Sharky Watch LIVE
No aircraft being currently flown by any RN or RAF pilot is really going to prepare them for the quantum leap that JSF will bring. The swing/multi role aircraft being flown by the RN guys in the US are not much different than the ones being currently operated by the RAF. Don't forget there are plenty of RAF guys on exchange too.
Since nobody answered my earlier question I will give my own slant on things. Rightly or wrongly it is now (at least partially) a numbers game. The RAF can provide a lot more pilots than the RN for the JSF force. We're not just talking line pilots but Sqn leadership as well. The majority of the RN guys currently out in the US are unlikely to be put straight into the higher echelons of our first JSF Sqn. They will, however, have an awful lot of very useful deck experience and I hope to god that knowledge is utilised correctly (provided they actually come home and don't decide to stay).
Regardless of what I say above I am sufficiently out of the loop on these matters to not be able to state anything as being fact. I will however give my standard opinion on such matters. I am very proud of all of our armed forces. I would love to see Sqns (note plural which may be ambitious) of JSF operated in the best possible fashion by individuals of any cloth who are capable of operating them effectively. If that calls on RN experience of boat ops and RAF experience of air power then so be it. Hell you could throw in some army input if it helped. I just wish that we could all remember we're on the same side and stop whining about who knows best.
I accept that I am a hopeless idealist in that respect. Fact.
BV