Jamie
I think you need to have a long hard think about why you want to be an RAF pilot and what you want to get out of it.
You also need to think about how you would present yourself to the RAF.
Firstly if your username denotes the year of your birth you need to be sure you can start IOT in time. I will admit to having no idea if there are caveats based on age due to COVID currently.
My main point though is that you shouldn’t be planning to fly as an RAF pilot just so you can see what it is like at LL.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, should join the RAF with the ambition to fly the Hawk T1 so they can watch the world rush by at 250’.
Just because I have been stuck on the Hawk for years and still get to do some fun flying it does not mean I think anyone should have Hawk flying as their ambition.
If your reason for not wanting to fly Typhoon or F35 is because of the lack of LL flying I suggest you need your head read!
Sure you may not get as many flying hours or time at LL as some multi engine pilots but there is a lot more to it than that.
I’m sure Poseidon, for example, offers a very fulfilling career but I wouldn’t suggest you follow that path just so you can fly at 500’ over the sea for hours on end.
Please take this as friendly advice but if you are a genuine wannabe and not just trolling for fun then I suggest you have a long hard think about what you’re really after.
To everyone else who probably thinks I’m just a FJ throbber who is trying to big up FJs over Multis you are wrong.
Anyone who offers advice should try to be subjective.
Just as I (as an ex Jag mate who is now on my sixth Hawk tour) can suggest not to make the Hawk your end goal, multi engine guys shouldn’t pretend that their flying job is constant wanging around the Welsh valleys at LL.
As for the Chipmunk, I flew in it many times as an Air Cadet. I enjoyed the experience of flying immensely but I found the Chipmunk to be bloody uncomfortable and noisy (the helmets were like a medieval torture device).
If you are thinking about BBMF I would suggest you need to put that on the back burner.
Most guys I know who head that way have 15-20 years flying experience beforehand.
BV