Methinks althenick is fishing - sorry, gotta bite.
The RAF ratio is so high because (in the main) it is our officers that fly. In the current climate of manpower cuts, any fat is being trimmed and that means all the support etc is being civilianised wherever possible. What will not change is the number of crews, because that is directly linked to capability. Hence, the supporting trades/branches where most of the airmen reside will reduce and the aircrew numbers will remain static. This ratio is likely to get worse in your eyes, but is the way we are headed.
The Army are different because their capability is all about eyes/boots/SA80s on the ground and hence the ratio needs to remain high.
I do agree that there is scope for a little bit of a senior management cull tho....
