Going back to about 1993/4, there was a study about the rank structure but the only thing that happened was a decision not to use the rank of Marshal of the RAF in peacetime. This may go someway to explain why former CAS's are no longer 'marshalled' on their last day and then placed on 'half pay', not retired.
I had a 'friend' who had been told he was to be made acting Gp Capt at about this time and I had a computer and some sheets of blue crested paper. The combination was too tempting to ignore and so I prepared an elaborate hoax but one which had lots of clues in it eg: the letter I prepared came from Air Cdre Richard Head and was signed off by his common nickname. The gist of the letter was that until the rank business was sorted out, there would be no more promotions and my friend would be paid substitution money instead but his appointment would be promulgated to explicitly state he was 'primus inter pares'. The letter went on to explain a few other things, one of which was that aircrew wg cdrs were exempt, as were doctors and dentists because of their special conditions etc.
I used the telephone number of an office we had once shared but which was now occupied by some other mob and concluded by saying things like I'm sure he appreciated the need for the these difficult decisions and I knew he would accept the decision with his usual aplomb and good humour etc. I then put the letter in a blue crested envelope and typed his name on a single line with no other addressing. This went inside another envelope which was addressed to the unit only. This assured that the letter was removed from the outer envelope in the Registry and then sent to the chap in the internal mail.
Worked a treat!!
Old Duffer