Bob V - It was 3 to 6 months induction training (learning how to march and say 'Sir' which most of us already knew) followed by six months basic and similar advanced flying training, followed by OCU and front line appointment, a little over two years from joining.
I think JW411 qualified on multis (Varsity) followed by Argosy OCU in whatever time scale he says, and was probably a Captain shortly after.
I was flying off a Carrier in the Far East about 22 months after I joined. Not saying I knew much about what was going on, and some of us didn't last long. Eighteen months (late 1962) later we thought we might be asked to use our nuke capability for the Cuba Missile Crisis - QV
Order Of The Day -- 2nd August, 1962 -- 60 Years Ago Today
Three 'O' levels got us a job then. I realise you are expected to be a bit cleverer and better qualified now, but there was some urgency (and wonderful job satisfaction) in those days.
What do you think MoD is offering (money) to those 'volunteers' they are currently seeking - for all their waste of time when they could have been getting some useful qualification - instead of sitting on their a***es doing holdovers ?
Have you any idea what they paid the last lot of RAF surplus trainee pilots ? The ones they compulsorily chopped a few years back - Some of them were within spitting distance of their Wings.
There's plenty of keen young lads, but the burning problem is - If they can't train them in a decent time scale and at the other end, they can't retain them, then the RAF is doomed to fail. There won't be any one left apart from a few VSOs waiting to retire and join ASCENT and those who are still actively supporting the abandonment of Airworthiness.
Have you yet read
'A Noble Anger - The Manslaughter of Corporal Jonathan Bayliss' by David Hill ? It's all part of the same rotten 'nobody cares, it's not my problem' problem.
Cheers, LFH