My view with the lack of recruits is the whole, and I’m sorry to have to say it, Old Boys Club attitude in the military. We all know that the RAF are a white middle class organisation and you can’t change 100 years of history overnight or without causing headlines.
We have a 15 year old girl, she’s bright, works hard at school and is in the air cadets and her aim was to go to the RAF as a pilot and we give her as much encouragement as we can. BUT she lost all interest when a Corporal on the Typhoon display team said to her last year “ You’ll never fly with the RAF as you’re a girl”
Anybody with the ability should be encouraged to apply and not be penalised by Sex, Colour or Gender but they shouldn’t be given any special treatment and there should be a level playing field for them all. This isn’t the 40s or even the 80s, times have changed and people have to really get over the prejudices of the past and move on.
I’m very surprised and disappointed to read what the corporal said. I helped in the basic flying training of one young lady who flew the RAF’s first all female fast jet sortie, plus at least one more young lady who went in to fly SAR helicopters. They got there on personal merit, not because of some woke agenda. That was back in the early 1990s, for goodness’ sake!
My own daughter became the senior cadet at our local Air Training Corps squadron and went on to do very well as a member of a University Air Squadron whilst at Uni. I had high hopes that she would make an excellent pilot (she is a natural car driver) but she decided that the RAF wasn’t for her. Possibly because she went on to get an honours first in psychology!
