History must be preserved. You can absolutely guarantee that if the BBMF had been the first to feel the cold steel of the Sword, Qs would have been raised in Parliament.

Shocking.

TN.

AAC felt the sword first. It hurt but the wound has healed.....still chafes on occasions.

And I am sure those who made the decision then Sloppy, and now, don’t have much of a Military background.........

Are you surprised? This is a government that has repeatedly shown it knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

i think you are right Tuc. Also, for RAF PR the BBMF is only joined by the Red Arrows and now a very small handful of RAF display types (Chinook, Tutor and Typhoon). Add to that the Falcons, QCS and the RAF Bands then that is it. Whereas the RN has the Black Cats, RN Parachute Display Team, Royal Marines Commando Display Teams, HMS Victory, Royal Navy Field Gun teams, Royal Marines Bands, Mast Manning Display Teams and then the Historic Flight. Seeing as flying is not the RN’s core business it is not surprising that it chooses to fund the RNHF via seperate means.

Moving onto the BBMF, it is incredibly cheap for what it provides for the RAF, far more so than the Reds. That said, the Reds are also an important part of the RAF’s PR and also for international outreach. So trying to compare the RNHF’s importance to the RN to that of the BBMF to the RAF is not really a fair comparison in my humble opinion.

RAFAT the year after that? Perhaps hoi polloi will then recognise the parlous state of the Armed Forces.

On reflection, probably not.

Per Ardua Boys and Girls.

Another culprit could be the MAA. One reason for the HAAF loosing official funding was the MAA not willing to support the types they operated. As a result their Scout, Sioux, Beaver and Auster Mk 9 were put on the civvy register and the Allouette sold off as she needed work the HAAF couldn't afford. Oddly the HAAF's Chipmunk may remain as a military aircraft because the BBMF operate the type.

The aircraft, Engs, Squippers, Loggies, Ops Team and OC are funded on the BBMF - but the rest of the aircrew and tour guides are volunteers. I just wanted to make that clear...

Continuing with the make clear theme, the Command withdrew funding, not the MoD. All the HAF (now HAAF) were all volunteers aside from two engineers on reduced hours. The principal costs were not the hardware or the operating costs but the continuing airworthiness, five aircraft types is on a par with lots of aircraft of the same type. Command were faced with cuts, do I spend money on yesterday or spend it on life saving equipment for today? I don't blame them, business is business.....still doesn't stop it chafing every now and then. Meanwhile, don't think I am trying to compare BBMF with HAAF, they are both in a completely different league in the same way it wouldn't be right to compare QCS with the Household Division.
Smiley faced thingy.....
SL

I think you are wide of the mark re VICTORY, RN Parachute team, Mast manning, Field Gun etc. I think all of these are either in the charity sector or self funded. RNHF was only part funded for a small maintenance crew. Running the aircraft relied on fundraising. The three MoD funded “memorials” used to be HMS VICTORY, BBMF and National Army Museum Chelsea. With VICTORY paid off to the charity sector what is the justification for MoD maintaining BBMF. Perhaps once RAF 100 is eventually complete (yawn) BBMF should go the same way as Victory.