§ Mr. Hastingsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his present estimate of the number of hours maintenance per flight hour required on the F111K when it becomes operational; and how this will compare with other aircraft in Royal Air Force service at the time.
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§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe F111 has been specially designed for easy maintenance access. Although in the early stages we would expect a higher figure, possibly about 50 hours, our target figure after the aircraft has been in R.A.F. service for some time is 35 maintenance man hours per flying hour, compared with 37 and 40 man hours respectively for the Phantom and the Lightning Mk. 6, both of which are much smaller and less complex aircraft.