ORAC,
Shall we say this, during 'GW1' the RAF had the luxury of putting together an expeditionary force of 40 or so Tornado GR1s from 11 frontline squadrons, two OCUs and a Test and Evaluation unit. That doesn't mean that today with a force of only about 80 available airframes they couldn't do the same. They would be pushed but then again it is always a numbers game. If we were getting 238 F-35s, I'm absolutely certain we'd have people making the case for them all to be F-35Bs just the same. Cast your mind back to the 1970s and HMS Ark Royal, tell me, how many F-4Ks and Buccaneers did the Navy have available for any full scale deployment? Please don't point out that the RAF would have rendered their assets to make good the numbers. While some RAF Phantom and Buccaneer crews were carrier trained, they were few and far between and the bulk of the latter's aircraft were declared to SACEUR meaning operating from European Bases. I don't think the RN and the RAF had anywhere near 138 Buccaneers between them, the RAF had a few more Phantoms but I'm not certain the F-4Ms were carrier capable I certainly don't think the Germany based crews practiced carrier operations at all.
FB
