BBMF Under Threat?

Wouldn’t touch that vile paper even with gloves on.

Did they run out of Diana stories ?

Papa Lima – this story is not as crazy as it sounds. I have commented before on this site about the next round of defense cuts that are ‘under development’ regardless of who wins the upcoming election, but no one seems to want to believe; real head in the sand stuff. My sources have never let me down yet. We can be sure that the RAF (and the RN) will be hit hard (the British Army will probably be untouched due to the current focus on the Afghan business). The likely scale of cuts for the RAF will be massive with wholesale civilianisation or contractorisation of support services on an unprecendented scale. Possible surviving ‘light blue’ manpower total IRO 32,000. Maybe even the Red Arrows will finally be retired (or at least reduced to 5 aircraft). My personal guess is that the BBMF aircraft will be sold or leased to a suitable private company with an undertaking to ‘appear’ at various events on behalf of UK MoD from time to time. And the big one: I predict the RAF will revert to being a component of the Army which will wipe out many staff officer posts and maybe even save a complete HQ. I assume that they won’t be so stupid as to re-invent the name Royal Flying Corps!! Captain Blackadder would be most amused!

We can bleat and shout and yell and complain but I have no doubt that there is some truth in what Nachtjad says.

I don’t think most of us realise just how parlous our finances are and how fragile our chances of fiscal survival are unless we make massive cuts in expenditure across the board.

If we are being honest there should be no sacred cows and I include the NHS in that.

So, sad though it is I would not be surprised if the BBMF ceased to exist in its present form.:(

But despite the lack of funds- the purchase of three RC135 is about to go ahead again, along with modifying to the ‘british’ requirement- then we’ll be out of Afghan pre-delivery. Oh yes-joined up thinking is the phrase.

Perhaps the MoD has forgotten previous ‘encounters’ that seem to arise when proposals connected with the BBMF are made – have they unleashed a beast again? 😀

IMHO MoD should cancel all leave!! :diablo:

But might the above post be a little like the football manager who publicly receives the full and wholehearted support of both the Chairman and Board of Directors a week before he gets the sack?

I hope not.

Regards,

kev35

Denied by the BBMF themselves-

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/news/index.cfm?storyid=3177BC8D-5056-A318-A877D2E906A0C1C6

When you see some of the reports from the National Audit Office you can see where real savings can be made. For example buying ground support kit which does the job but has not been overpriced because its for an aircraft eg rubber mats which protect airframes while being worked on. Thats a real example, to have used the BAE ones would have cost far more.

Did they run out of Diana stories ?

That’s the Express.

Papa Lima – this story is not as crazy as it sounds. I have commented before on this site about the next round of defense cuts that are ‘under development’ regardless of who wins the upcoming election, but no one seems to want to believe; real head in the sand stuff. My sources have never let me down yet.

Why do you need ‘sources’? This is both in the public domain and blindingly obvious.

Moggy

I heard it will continue but with the help of an outside investor.

It’s OK, the Sunday Express will save them again :rolleyes:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/52252

Funding for the flight is from the same historic agreement which funds HMS Victory and also has the support of a members group.

I think I am right in saying that the Royal Navy Historic Flight ‘decoupled’ from the MOD some time ago, and is now essentialy ‘stand alone’ , whilst still having use of Royal Navy facilities. It seems to be self-supporting, albeit with very sustantial input from Kennet Aviaition.

Given the mania to ‘privatise’ (flog off ) all manner of MOD premises and institutions, it would not be a huge surprise to see the BBMF come under the spotlight.

Perhaps, in the style of Red Bull, we could get Spitfire Beer to sponsor the fighters, and maybe Lancaster insurance to stump up for the bomber, all painted up in company colours of course.

This story seems to reappear every year really and to be honest we can all see that the armed forces are being pushed to the limits and further and as a country we are pretty much bankrupt.

So personally if the BBMF is to carry on without losing its meaning or assets I would not be against money being raised externally to keep them flying as they should, What I fear is the collection would be sold on and split up which would be an insult to all those who the BBMF fly as a tribute to as well as putting another huge nail into the coffin of this once proud country we call the United Kingdom.

We all know that some drastic cuts are going to be made to what is left to spend of the public purse and essentially we are not that far off being a third world country financially and this situation is not going to change easily, So if the BBMF is to survive by a different means then so be it, But it MUST survive.

In interest I wonder if the Red Arrows will be the next talking point for disbanding, They are an asset in a different way as they are great for publicity abroad as well as promoting whats left of UK bussiness, They are also a great recruiting tool.

I just wonder if the politicians realise how important both the BBMF and the Red Arrows are to the country.

Duxfordhawk

I agree with everything you say.

The tragedy is that I don’t think the government really has the slightest interest in iconic symbols representing what we do do well or did do well, particularly if they are military.

If a way can be found of “privatising” both the BBMF and the Red Arrows, it will be and for the financial reasons you so succinctly described.

But might the above post be a little like the football manager who publicly receives the full and wholehearted support of both the Chairman and Board of Directors a week before he gets the sack?

I hope not.

Regards,

kev35

Well said, Kev!

Despite all the proclivities of the Daily Mail, the important part of the BOBMF statement is the second paragraph. Read between the lines and the sub-text here is patently clear. Certainly no decision has yet been taken. But it might be, and is always “subject to review”. There isn’t any surprise there, and we all know that all “government” spending (lower case g and inverted commas deliberate!!) is always subject to reviews. Never say never. None of us, really, would be surprised to see it happen. Neither, I suspect, would the BOBMF themselves.

They are not as important as paying benefits to islamic militants in the eyes of this P/C world – – sorry country.

It’s OK, the Sunday Express will save them again :rolleyes:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/52252

I thought it would be The Sun wot saves them with another one of their ‘collect 10 tokens and we’ll donate £10,000,000 to save the BBMF’!

Papa Lima – this story is not as crazy as it sounds. I have commented before on this site about the next round of defense cuts that are ‘under development’ regardless of who wins the upcoming election, but no one seems to want to believe; real head in the sand stuff. My sources have never let me down yet. We can be sure that the RAF (and the RN) will be hit hard (the British Army will probably be untouched due to the current focus on the Afghan business). The likely scale of cuts for the RAF will be massive with wholesale civilianisation or contractorisation of support services on an unprecendented scale. Possible surviving ‘light blue’ manpower total IRO 32,000. Maybe even the Red Arrows will finally be retired (or at least reduced to 5 aircraft). My personal guess is that the BBMF aircraft will be sold or leased to a suitable private company with an undertaking to ‘appear’ at various events on behalf of UK MoD from time to time. And the big one: I predict the RAF will revert to being a component of the Army which will wipe out many staff officer posts and maybe even save a complete HQ. I assume that they won’t be so stupid as to re-invent the name Royal Flying Corps!! Captain Blackadder would be most amused!

Your sources may not have let you down yet but, however close they are to the corridors of power, there is still much uncertainty about what should go and what should remain. You are right to say that the RAF stands to lose much but, in concentrating solely on a current operation, we are failing to heed history yet again. Anyway, regarding the BBMF, the post-Christmas entertainment (well it would be if it were not so worrying) at MOD Main Building and elsewhere always takes the form of the annual spending round. I do recall, not long ago, always being told that “we’ve got an overspend on budget x, can you use some more textbooks or Audio visual kit and, if so, can you buy it before the end of March?” That hasn’t happened this year funny old thing. Everything is put on the table every year and that includes the Reds and the BBMF. What makes it rather different this year is that we really are in the dwang (for “we” read public sector) and so the chances of the RAFAT and or the BBMF being binned are/were likely to be greater than in the past.

You are not the first to predict that Trenchard’s 100 year experiment of an independent air force will be just that and you are not alone in that view. My own view (as a member of the RAF) is less pessimistic but I worry that the Land element has no grasp of real Air Power and, as it tends to use light blue just to ferry it from A to B, will find things a little worse when faced with an air-capable adversary.

Both the RAFAT and the BBMF are very big “shop windows” for the RAF and, considering the actual amount of money they cost to run, would perhaps be a cut too far. Still, not my decision and never will be as I’m on resettlement – just don’t mess with my imminent pension.