UK Defence Forum

Unfortunately Crowsnest is meant to be covered from the 30 active Merlin HM2.

You can see where the other Merlins are by looking here http://www.demobbed.org.uk/aircraft.php?type=725

What's interesting is that the HM1s are described as Stored which usually means in climate controlled conditions.

When they're scrapped they're usually described as RTP (Reduced-to-Produce) or w.f.u. (withdrawn from use)

It is sort of a form of creative accounting. I have seen many aircraft in Maintenance Hangers in the past that had be stripped of so many spares they were almost a shell, yet were still classed as part of the active fleet. Somebody somewhere has either forgotten about the HM1s or wants to give the impression they are stored as attrition replacements or similar.

Lord Jim wrote:give the impression they are stored as attrition replacements or similar.

Giving that impression is perhaps preferred to making it plain that we only have two thirds of the procured fleet left (and are desperately short for missions where no workable substitute exists).

But to be fair, let's remember that the fleet stepped into the breach when more Chinooks were only coming in in drips and drops and the Pumas were of no use before being re-engined.