Like many, I soloed in a glider with the Air Cadets at the age of 16. This led to fixed wing flying - also with the cadets - and subsequently a 40-odd year flying career. No RAF or flying family background, so without that opportunity - who knows?
Could this happen now? Unlikely...... but they do have a lot more badges. We only had two for flying: the glider solo and then the Flying Scholarship.