Originally Posted by Rhymenoceros
From what I have heard, there are the best part of a dozen F18 qualified RN FW aviators, with another group set to join them in the coming 12 months. The first RN pilot has also started on the F35 OCU at Eglin AFB. With those flying at Yeovilton, Culdrose, Valley etc also in the mix in the future, I think the RN FW cadre is looking pretty healthy.....
Excellent point
I stand to be corrected but I understand that some Royal Navy pilots might be taking a step back in time and be doing ALL their training in the USA. By that I mean learning to fly an aircraft and then going on to honing the required skills for military flying. We have an EXCELLENT thread that talks about this but the aircraft had a radial engine and were mostly bi-planes.
Not only are our officers learning their trade in a country that struggles to speak English, we are also lucky enough to have British pilots flying from the Charles De Gaulle. I just hope our pilots remember to celebrate
Trafalgar Day 
We are playing big boy games with the budget of a school boy's tuck money, putting a pint of oil into an empty fifty gallon oil drum is never going to impress anyone.
Do we seriously believe our country will ever have two operational carriers with sufficient aircraft to have both ships fully combat ready?
We now have a carrier sailing the high seas without a single fixed wing aircraft and that speaks volumes about our attitude toward carrier capability (a badge has been stuck on the funnel of this ship which is supposed to change its role)
When and if our first new carrier puts to sea it will probably not have any type of AEW cover and when this does finally arrive it will be a rotor wing flying machine with the limitations of any helicopter and contrary to what their lordshiops are saying, its beyond horizon sea skimming detection capability must surely be very limited when compared with a 'high flyer'?
We are allegedly putting to sea a ship with second choice fixed wing aircraft, second choice AEW capability and absolutely no way of embarking any type of tanking aircraft and then we will no doubt ask why are we bothering?