There's some interesting stuff appearing here - which is good - discussion always helps clarify things.
Reasons given recently for having the ATC doing gliding have ranged from 'providing pilots of the future' to 'giving air time to all cadets' to 'building self confidence and responsibility in young people'.
All very noble, but my point remains - I'm not at all sure that this any of these activities should be funded by the RAF out of the defence vote. The strains on the defence budget are well known, and I'm just not convinced that spending any money on building a new (very large) fleet of military owned gliders can be justified right now.
We've also had the argument that re-equipping the ATC with new gliders (or fixing the current fleet) would not cost much in comparison to the cost of a batch of F35's for the QE. With due respect, that's a bit of a stretch. Compared with the cost of buying the F-35s, almost anything would 'not cost much'. Perhaps a better question might be 'how many Royal Marines would we like to make redundant so that the ATC can fly its cadets in Government owned aircraft?'
Oh, and the F-35s are going to be 'for' the RAF. They are required to operate from the carriers, but I'm sure that the RAF will seek to minimise the time spent at sea.
Best regards as ever to those in town having to make damnably hard choices,
Engines