I am an ex-RAF Officer, Tornado GR1/GR1A & GR4 Navigator and now Airbus Training Captain in Civvie Street. Loved the RAF and now love what I am doing now. Long story, but that is for another day....
All those people saying that NCA are not fit for command and are not fit to command complex aircraft should perhaps read an excellent book I have just read called 'Apache Dawn'. It follows the Afghanistan adventures of British Army Apache pilots - the odd officer among them but mainly NCOs. The Apache is infinitely more complex than the Tornado GR4 in terms of operation and what they have been doing in terms of Close Air Support beats anything I ever did - including a number of low level missions in the first Gulf War. If I was an army squaddie on the ground, the guy I would want above me in that Apache would have loads of experience and not some army Major with 700 hours total time who knows all about 'commanding men'. I want someone who is knowledgeable, experienced, tenacious, motivated, keen and courageous - give me a Sgt pilot any day.
Being an officer is all very useful if you aspire to be the Squadron Boss and want someone to makes hearts and minds speeches in front of our wives and children. We have all known highly intelligent officers who would struggle to work out how to flush the toilet correctly. By the time I left the RAF, I had really had it with many senior officers who were just utter buffoons in posh suits. These are the same people that decided not to put a gun in the Typhoon or Harrier incidentally (the Typhoon gun is back in I hear). They are also the same people who decided not to put any ECM on the Tornado F3. Put a hard-bitten WO1 with a bit of savvy in the decison-making chain and none of that would have happened. I had also spent a little time with the army and was incredibly impressed by the nouse, wit and ability of the common British soldier. If I was in a tight spot, I do not care whether the people around me are officers or not - I care that they are well-trained, competent and courageous. All very useful as it is to be the best Wines Member in the history of the Mess, that sort of thing really counts for diddly when the rubber hits the road. There are some great officers in our nation's history but there are also some fantastic NCOs who can and do command men significantly more effectively than the officers over them.