Red Arrows to be chopped? Again!
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Red Arrows to be chopped? Again!
According to the Sunday Express the next Prime Minister (
) is planning to get rid of the Reds in yet another cut to the RAF (cue posts from the Army)
http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_...8209-5,00.html
) is planning to get rid of the Reds in yet another cut to the RAF (cue posts from the Army)http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_...8209-5,00.html
Suspicion breeds confidence
At the risk of being controversial. We are losing front line squadrons and key capabilities on a regular basis. Surely the question has to be asked - why do we need them?
Perhaps the best solution would be to form an aerobatic team out of the elements of the 232 planes we are buying unnecessarily and at huge expense. Perhaps the new team could be called the "White Elephants".
The flying Banana is not a very exciting plane and perhaps it is time we pulled the plug on this ego trip.
Perhaps the best solution would be to form an aerobatic team out of the elements of the 232 planes we are buying unnecessarily and at huge expense. Perhaps the new team could be called the "White Elephants".
The flying Banana is not a very exciting plane and perhaps it is time we pulled the plug on this ego trip.
As the most of the "cost" of the Reds is paid by sponsorship, chopping them would have little positive benefit in a financial sense.
Now, it's time for more anti-Reds propaganda from bitter fish-heads...............
Now, it's time for more anti-Reds propaganda from bitter fish-heads...............
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Scampton must be worth a few quid as building land
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New Threat To Red Arrows
Sadly, it looks like the writing's finally on the wall! Maybe BAES could provide the Reds with new aircraft for free? That may go some way towards helping.
Ministers confirmed last night that, despite an earlier pledge to keep the elite RAF air display team, it has been included in a wide-ranging spending review.
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When Scampton was 'closed' in the 90s it was planned to sell the land & had already been earmarked as the site of an open prison. Then it was discovered that the planning permission from the 50s for the extension to the runway which altered the course of the road (A19?) that ran past the base required the MOD to straighten it if the place was shut & use of the runway no longer required! Cost approx £4 million.
One of the old bomb dumps was found to be contaminated & the cost to clean it up to modern H&S standards was another £3 million. (Both figures 1990s costs)
This rather spoiled the economics of selling off the place.
I'm not a huge fan of the Reds in the sense that they're all a bunch of egomaniacs. BUT....they're the best close formation military aerobatic I've ever seen, as has already been stated they don't cost the taxpayer much due to all the sponsorship, & they display all around the world as an example of British avaition & engineering excellence.
Therefore it seems entirely in accordance with government policy that such an example of quality & elitism should be scrapped. Until any comprehensive educated halfwit with a GCSE pass in media studies & no flying aptitude can aspire to being a member of the Red Arrows, the team has no place in our society.
One of the old bomb dumps was found to be contaminated & the cost to clean it up to modern H&S standards was another £3 million. (Both figures 1990s costs)
This rather spoiled the economics of selling off the place.
I'm not a huge fan of the Reds in the sense that they're all a bunch of egomaniacs. BUT....they're the best close formation military aerobatic I've ever seen, as has already been stated they don't cost the taxpayer much due to all the sponsorship, & they display all around the world as an example of British avaition & engineering excellence.
Therefore it seems entirely in accordance with government policy that such an example of quality & elitism should be scrapped. Until any comprehensive educated halfwit with a GCSE pass in media studies & no flying aptitude can aspire to being a member of the Red Arrows, the team has no place in our society.
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Scampton must be worth a few quid as building land
S_H
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Ministers confirmed last night that, despite an earlier pledge to keep the elite RAF air display team, it has been included in a wide-ranging spending review.
Sadly, it looks like the writing's finally on the wall!
Nah, means nothing IMHO. They're always included in "wide ranging spending reviews" along with many other sqns/units from all three services. The ones put forward by defence chiefs are probably carefully chosen to be either not missed too much, or too high profile to be seriously considered for the axe.
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As the most of the "cost" of the Reds is paid by sponsorship, chopping them would have little positive benefit in a financial sense.
Apart from the free sunglasses, and a bit of help with fuel, I thought the rest was people and old planes - which cost money.
Perhaps BWOS could form a team instead. Another retirement opportunity for washed up harrier jocks?
Remember - if it was that good an idea, the private sector would be doing it.
No offence chaps. You will be missed, but they have a point.
Any chance of a back seat before they swing the axe?
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The Reds get scrutinised in every financial round and so far have come through unscathed. Back in the late 90s we were very short of Hawks and a measure was run to reduce the Reds display from 9 to 7 or 5 (both costed) on the grounds that this would still deliver the elitist output and defence sales piece but at slightly less cost and more importantly freeing up aircraft for the training machine. I think the measure was accepted right the way through to Ministers who rejected it!
In the end even a complete scrapping would save so little money it would be counter-productive. We in the professional military might look down our noses at the rather prima donna approach of the team, but we shouldn't underestimate their standing in the public eye - scrapping them would be a vote loser for any government so I guess they're safe!
In the end even a complete scrapping would save so little money it would be counter-productive. We in the professional military might look down our noses at the rather prima donna approach of the team, but we shouldn't underestimate their standing in the public eye - scrapping them would be a vote loser for any government so I guess they're safe!
Its that time of year again folks, CSR is upon us and the knives are out for some more salami slicing cuts. This story is leaked every time we have a spending review and every time it doesn't happen. Cutting the Reds is like scrapping the BBMF or Trooping the Colour - its an integral part of our military in the public eye and its just too high risk to think about. Nice job whichever Mole was ordered to leak this though, I suspect its as a counter to the RN leaks of recent weeks.
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There's a £50,000-a-year job waiting for one of them at No10, making Tony's tea in the morning, opening the mail, shining shoes, that sort of thing. There's probably a clause in the butler's contract that says when Tony's too busy sucking up to George, he has to peer out from between the Downing Street curtains and sneer at all the poor people for him. 
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Whether it gets chopped sooner or later, I believe the Reds will eventually go.
Welcome my friends to 'Cash in the Attic' Britain, where people know the price of everything but the value of nothing
Welcome my friends to 'Cash in the Attic' Britain, where people know the price of everything but the value of nothing
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.........This story is leaked every time we have a spending review and every time it doesn't happen. Cutting the Reds is like scrapping the BBMF or Trooping the Colour - its an integral part of our military in the public eye and its just too high risk to think about. Nice job whichever Mole was ordered to leak this though, I suspect its as a counter to the RN leaks of recent weeks.
Nah, means nothing IMHO. They're always included in "wide ranging spending reviews" along with many other sqns/units from all three services. The ones put forward by defence chiefs are probably carefully chosen to be either not missed too much, or too high profile to be seriously considered for the axe.
.. and who said that the BBMF or Trooping the Colour were safe?
Gentleman Aviator
Whether it gets chopped sooner or later, I believe the Reds will eventually go.
........ always assuming the RAF lasts that long.......
Suspicion breeds confidence
When you read headlines like this, it does make it very hard to justify the continuation of a dedicated display team. If you voted for this shower it is all your fault because they have emasculated the armed forced to a point where they are barely viable.
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The reds aren't, the BBMF are. Given the amount of trg the reds do it isn't feasible for membership to be a secondary duty.
I hope they do survive - they're pretty much the only bit of the RAF that anyone the public gets to see these days and, think what you like of them as individuals, but the formation always turns heads as it transits past. As a symbol of the excellence to which we as a Service used once to aspire to, they are second to none. Why not just keep them as a reminder of how good we once were?
PS. I held there over 15 years ago. I can safely say that there were, on the team, some of the biggest chisellers and egomaniacs it has ever been my misfortune to stumble across. Flying looked good though
I hope they do survive - they're pretty much the only bit of the RAF that anyone the public gets to see these days and, think what you like of them as individuals, but the formation always turns heads as it transits past. As a symbol of the excellence to which we as a Service used once to aspire to, they are second to none. Why not just keep them as a reminder of how good we once were?
PS. I held there over 15 years ago. I can safely say that there were, on the team, some of the biggest chisellers and egomaniacs it has ever been my misfortune to stumble across. Flying looked good though
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Navaleye - as thus it ever was. If you genuinely believe that by giving anything up we, the armed forces, will get other kit that we desperately need then I fear you are sadly deluded. Any savings from scrapping the reds would disappear straight into Treasury coffers never to be seen by us again.