TIMTS
I know they were civvies, and did not have access to the training required by the RN and RAF. They cannot become as good as Harrier pilots have to be.
You have flown with them in rotary, and they haven't impressed you? But we are talking about them flying a Harrier, and about them being better pilots than the Twotter pilots. Swap them over. Who will crash the aircraft, who will complete the flight?
I have flown rotary. I was not very good at it (by RN standards - I could fly a helicopter and operate it to the standards equivalent to those required by my civilian CPL/IR(A)), despite having been near top of my class in the fixed-wing training - hence my return to fixed-wing. I am sorry but how people fly an R-44 is not a strong indication of how good they were as fixed-wing pilots. It takes a rather different skill.
You also cannot judge RN pilots (or, I concede, RAF single-seat) by reference to foreign fast-jet pilots. They have shown time and again that they can fly better than most pilots from most other nations, and operate their aircraft more effectively with better situational awareness. They do make errors in that demanding environment, I never said that was not possible, but they are certainly better pilots than any civvy has the chance to become.
Exactly how many ex-RN or RAF fast-jet crews have you flown with, in fixed-wing aircraft? How much do you know about the skill required to fly a Harrier (a uniquely demnding aircraft)?