I can see what'll happen here. We'll all complain that the Group Captains and their ilk are a waste of space, we'll cheer when the next defence review chops lots of them, then we'll all PVR because "no-one's getting promoted anymore, there's no room for advancement, there's no chance to have a proper career anymore." Best get myself off to that PA spine quickly!!
Also, according to the MoD pension calculator thing, this "Air ranks retiring on full pay" is a total myth. I thought they did retire on full pay so tried it out; a 5 year old AVM, who joined at 21, planning on retiring at 55 as a level 5 AVM (£112 244 salary) leaves with a pension of £56 122 and a gratuity of £168 366.
Extremely generous yes, but not full pay by a long shot!