An expected two-year wait for the Flycatcher's replacement stretched beyond ten years. The institutional criticism that follows concerns the formation of the RAF from the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. The naval service is credited with the more effective wartime procurement and engineering arrangements. The argument is that the merged service nevertheless adopted much of the larger Royal Flying Corps' system, with institutional size and familiar relationships outweighing the alternative experience.
Notable Point · 1:55:12-1:56:29
The Flycatcher's long service and the RAF's inherited procurement system
The Flycatcher's replacement delay introduces a criticism of how the RAF selected its procurement practices after amalgamation.