Qualifications - pah!
LL,
Talking of thousands of qualifications, you've reminded me of the fact that you don't need 3.3 gazillion A* grades to be a jockey in the RAF.
The requirement for serving personnel is only 5 GCSEs, including Maths, English and Physics based science. This is reduced according to rank and time served down as low as just the basic 3 above. Also, the age limit is 26 on entering training for ground trades and 31 on application for NCO Aircrew.
I personally think NCO Aircrew is a good thing for people to consider at the moment if they are unsuccessful for pilot as it gets them airborne, in a job which gives them lots of scope to cross over in the future. No offence to anyone, but there are no real opportunities to cross over if someone comes in as a WSO or ground branch (bar the odd scheme when we're really short) but this is positively encouraged in NCA.
Anyone reading this thinking of applying at present may find this useful advice if they find they're losing out because of the current dearth of places and extremely competitive nature of selection at present.
TB