Red Arrows flew past yesterday. Very basic fly past , not perhaps as people were expecting from the Herald story, but see them they did.
They were impressive as always at the Dawlish air day, and of course we are fortunate to see so much of them when they stay over at Exeter Airport, so it was a particular concern to hear that their future is not assured subject to the government's defence review.
One hopes that the case for retaining the team is pretty strong. The Hawk jets are the principal RAF advanced jet trainer, so they might be considered to form a pinnacle of the training process. And of course their roles in creating aspiration amongst the young and maintaining a sense of patriotic pride in the not so young are significant if not easily quantified.
But we live in austere times. Plus , the cost of Trident , our membership subscription for being America's 'junior partner' may be shifted onto an already stretched defence budget. So perhaps the Arrows will be seen as an expendable frippery.
It may be that the threat is a posturing part of the underlying interdepartmental argument over responsibility for Trident. We shall see. Even as a non militaristic person , I feel we would be the poorer without them.
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