".........and by the way, the intention was never to 'pull a rabbit out of a hat and fully man two RAF-sized sqns', - it was always intended to have the JFH squadrons 'light blue heavy' and 'dark blue heavy',"
The problem is that with significantly less than 1/4 of the available pilots, the RN expected to have 1/2 of the exec and CO positions on the new JFH.
As a result, you have the situation in which some sharp RAF Harrier officers will never get the exec/command positions they had every right to expect, while less experienced, less able Naval officers take those jobs, and younger RAF Harrier pilots find themselves sidelined while the RN surges people through Valley in a frantic effort to get enough dark blue bums on the bang seats.
Manning one of the four squadrons with RN aviators would have been sensible, and there would have been nothing wrong with moving towards a 50:50 structure (or even an RN-heavy force) in the fullness of time.