Originally Posted by
jayc530
My point is the total number of commisioned ranks we have, far too many for the size of the current air force, a quick look at the Air Force List reveals the ridiculous number of Sqn Ldr and Wg Cmd appointments we have.
I'm not against Air ranks, they have their place but we desperately need to addess the numbers of commisioned officers.
Jayc you are right in principle.
Modern rank inflation may well have started with the V-Force. An all commissioned crew demanded at least a flt lt captain in charge of the BOMB. A 23-yr old flt lt captain was one of the stars in the recruitment of the time.
Now Easy Street says an XO has 6 or 8 aircrew under him. In the 60s a V-force flight commander had 53. This increase may be directly attributed to the Hodgekinson which recommended up to 300 overborne sqn ldrs in the GD branch. This saw V bomber sqns go from one sqn ldr for 11 crews/53 aircrew to 5 sqn ldrs for 10 crews/44 aircrew - the same as your present FJ figure.
At that time you had CAS, a coterie of VSO on the Air Force Board, and AOCinC for Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Flying Training, Tech Training, Maintenance, Signals Commands, plus 2TAF, NEAF, MEAF, and FEAF. You then had 1Gp, 3Gp, 11Gp, 12Gp, 18Gp, 19Gp, 23Gp, 25Gp, 224Gp and probably others I have missed. They all had SASOs etc, so plenty of career opportunities for command progression.
But to revert to ranks matching posts you would have to realign pay as well.
PO=P3 in a civil airline. FO=FO/P2. Flt Lt=Captain. Sqn Ldr=Flight Checker. Wg Cdr=a division?. Gp Capt=Head of area operations.
AOC is now your 1* in charge of operations and CinC becomes the CEO.
Could their pay be afforded?
On ranks though, what of the RNZAF? Their highest organisation is a Group. Their CAS is a 2* but they only have 3200 personnel and 640 officers.
The RAAF head is a 3* and has 14300 personnel.
Proportionally the RAF is larger.
The other question is why so many senior officers at any given rank. The answer there is our politicians desire for seats at the top table so the military has to increase its star count to match that of her allies.
The forces can't operate in a vacuum the structure is moderated by external influences, so we see personnel on international duties upranked to give them credibility with her allies.