Geez
Yep, most of us are pretty enthusiastic about what we do! Aside from the beancounters having more influence than they used to, I still can't see any other job that I'd rather be doing at the moment. Just to answer a couple of your questions..
The Admiralty wants you to be available to work bloody hard, in some fairly inhospitable places, for lower pay than you could earn outside
but will give you the opportunity to play hard as well, sometimes in some very picturesque locations (rum punch on a Caribbean beach on a Wednesday afternoon) with a fantastic bunch of like-minded people. (And you get to take the piss out of the Crabs as well!)
You could be a student of Mesopotamian basket weaving for all they will care about the subject of a degree (unless you want to join as an engineer, when engineering is sort of expected!). It's the fact that you know how to gather information, organise the facts and develop a theory based on the data that is important.
Special flying award - don't know, ask a careers office.
As far as the Naval Officer first and pilot second is concerned, that's probably true of any of the Services, although some Crabs seem only to have qualified as Officers on a technicality. In the RN, aircrew are a sub-specialisation of the Seaman Officer branch (ship drivers). This means that you can become an aviator one of two ways:
First, join BRNC as a fish-head, do the training there and then go off to sea for about 2 years to get qualified and learn to drive ships. Once you have your bridge watch-keeping ticket, you can apply to sub-specialise in aviation and will compete with all the other fish-heads who want to do the same thing for however many places are available. (250 applicants for 10 places last time I heard about it) If you get it, you then go through flying training for a couple of years and end up on the frontline. Time from joining BRNC to frontline - 5 years approx.
Alternatively, join BRNC directly as potential aircrew, do the basic stuff and then go straight into flying training. Qualify after a couple of years and go frontline. Time from joining to frontline - about 3 years.
Basically, you can either be a fish-head who happens to be an aviator or an aviator who happens to be a fish-head (but only technically). Just depends what's important to you.
In all seriousness, you can have fun flying in any of the Services, but I
still think you can enjoy yourself more in the RN.
