sent a message to one of them working on the jag at wattisham

There’s a jag at wattisham?

No thanks – I’m off to London for the weekend.

The Vulcan’s still undecided and I doubt if many Vulcan fans will be foolish enough to go to the show based on hope.

Most of the display appears to comprise of warbirds. I’ve nothing against warbirds but really… is this Flying Legends?

The emphasis seems to be on the static display. Sorry, crowing about exotic aircraft (not that any of them are particularly exotic) which are simply parked in a line seems dull at best.

The RAF’s “showcase event” they say? Even Waddington’s own Nimrod is performing the same old single flypast even though it’s the type’s last public flying appearance (or so we assume). We can watch a Nimrod fly over the A15 any day for free.

The Tornado F3 will be gone by next year’s show. Flying at RIAT or Leuchars maybe, but not the RAF’s main event it seems… oh dear.

Even the last chance to see the Navy’s Jetsream display has been scrubbed.

Sorry, operational commitments, costs, logistics, I don’t care, it’s all so much hot air, and mostly just an excuse for a complete lack of original thinking and any will to stage an event which really does showcase the RAF. I guess the organisers could be blamed for lazily relying on an age-old show formula which is past its sell-by date, and their lack of interest in doing things any differently while Joe Public still buys a ticket. Then again, the RAF’s PR gurus really ought to be ashamed of themselves too if they seriously think this is the best showcase they could stage… although one gets the feeling that they don’t even have any interest in the show.

I think the men and women of the RAF – and the Great British Taxpayer – deserve something far better.

So pretty much word for word exactly the same stuff you spouted last year!

It is when its Tax payers money in regards to an essential service. Why on earth should I help make someone richer and help shareholders dividends for a service that has to be provided? It means private firms have government and by extension us the tax payer over a barrel as they can put up the price to maximise profit when they become the sole provider of an essential service.

I was recently in Gib with a service friend, there Serco have the contract to provide the building services. They are making a fat pile of cash, doing ****** all and people can’t even change a light bulb in their office as this breaks the contract- Serco have sole right to provide the service, demand the money and can provide the level of service they think fit as long as it meets the minimum requirement. Thats what happens when you have a profit motive over a providing service motive. Serco have the MOD over a barrel.

You seem to have the common “daily mail” view of these sort of contracts.

The contract will have been put out to tender, then the shortlisted companies will have to provide costings and details on how they are going to fulfill that contract. Then the best value company will win the contract.

These companies are not charities, and usually do it far cheaper than the MOD could, so why begrudge them making a profit?

If the MOD/government write the terms for a maintenance contract why is it so bad that the company actually sticks to those terms?

Would you prefer to go to the old days of having a bunch of PSA blokes sat around drinking tea, then taking ages to fix something as simple as a light bulb. Having the MOD spring for their sick pay, gold plated pension rights etc?

The very reason the majority of the armed forces has gone civvy apart from the front line is due to cost, and if these civvy companies can make a profit, and still do it cheaper than the old way it just goes to show how inefficient the old way was.

I have worked most of my career under both ways, and the current way seems to get things fixed far more quickly than before.

And all the bullets missed the prop blades as well!

Some modern (ish) aircraft still have drawings for specialist tools that are relatively easy to manufacture locally.

Might find some chocks though! 😀

I don’t object to the replicas and re-enactors but I would like the presenters to be knowledgeable and recognisable.
It all smacks of “I say wasn’t your Auntie in the WAAFs, then how would you like to front the new Dambusters documentary”.

respectfully

John

What an incredible attitude.
So basically you’re saying that if they’re not old and you don’t recognise them then they aren’t worthy of being on telly talking about the subject?

Perhaps you’d better publish a John the sexist , ageist’s list of acceptable TV presenters, and the subjects they are allowed to talk about.

.Another factor I need to address is who exactly would be restoring and maintaining one. It really is a case of having the people first rather than the aircraft.

The profile of the museum is quite low on camp, perhaps get some posters asking for volunteers made up and get them stuck up on noticeboards.
There are a lot of ex wattisham, ex RAF blokes working in the DSU, and a whole wealth of skills available.