I’ve no issue with withdrawing the Sea Kings. The part that I genuinely don’t understand is how this service is better delivered by a private company? I understand that many of the crews are moving over with the change, but at the end of the day, as tax payers we are paying for a company to go out, buy a whole new fleet of helicopters, maintain them, hangar them, fly them, accommodate crews in new facilities… and give the shareholders thousands of pounds in the way of profit. Why didn’t we just do that ourselves but save the profit part? I know it bean counters, and I know its probably a different budget so it doesn’t count. But overall I really see it as a retrograde step and I think its a sad reflection on our current air force.

While we’re sharing photos!