The flawed logic of trying to abolish the RAF

SIR – Mike Pringle (Letters, July 12), a retired Royal Navy commander, suggests that the Royal Air Force “is no longer a front-line service” and suggests that transport duties could be undertaken by civilian air fleets.

The RAF’S transport fleet lost four aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan – three to direct enemy action, including one shot down with the loss of all its crew. It is hard to see any civilian airline being particularly enthusiastic about taking over such responsibilities.

The first F35 squadron currently being formed is Number 617 of the RAF; the Fleet Air Arm squadrons will form later, but aircraft from both services will operate from the new carriers. Joint operations between the services have become the norm, and a single-service outlook is no longer seen as benefiting defence as a whole.

Since the formation of the RAF in 1918, the other two services have sought to have it disbanded, despite possessing air arms to serve their own particular tactical requirements. It is a pity that the latest campaign could not have been suspended while we celebrate the RAF’S centenary. Phil Mobbs

Wantage, Oxfordshire

SIR – I was disappointed that none of the many famous British aircraft that flew with the RAF in the Fifties and Sixties – the heyday of British aircraft development – was included in the spectacular flypast over the Mall.

The RAF’S memorial flight should be expanded to demonstrate the evolution in aircraft design from the piston-engined era to today’s fast jets, and to salute all those who served in the RAF during the Cold War period.

Dr Robert Pleming

Co-chairman, Heritage Working Group All-party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation

Alresford, Hampshire