As you were kind enough to mention me in your post Danny I feel obliged to reply, though I must confess to have forgotten making the comments that you attribute to me (nothing new there though, I constantly marvel at your superb memory).
The point you make about the narrow age group that constituted the post war RAF is valid of course, and there would have been an inevitable, "Last man out please switch off the light" effect if nothing had been done. I suppose that 'events, dear boy, events' as ever had some effect, as the Cold War in particular reduced the peace time salami cuts that are so prevalent nowadays (and with a war going on, to boot). All I can say from my own observation is that those who were ex WW2 (easily identified of course from the ribbons they sported) were in the main excellent, be they JOs, SOs, or VSOs. The latter of course were celebrities in their own right, your AOC could be someone featured in a Paul Brickhill book, be he ex617, or a Stalag, or both!
What they all had in common was a joie de vivre at having simply survived, and a lack of interest in advancement purely for its own sake. That is the main difference I think between my days (1959-73) and what I read elsewhere of the situation these days. Even those SOs who were not exWW2 had been raised in an environment that was still much affected by it and hence adopted many of the attitudes of their forebears. I had some excellent bosses, but most were from this latter group.
The one big disadvantage was what you allude to, the passive acceptance of a large peacetime loss rate, particularly in the new jet fleets. That was when the Flight Safety system was established that I grew up with. It was all enveloping; Posters, Mags, Films, Campaigns, Displays, all pushing the mantra that "Flight Safety Concerns You!" The rate came down, avoidable accidents were avoided, and the RAF maintained its potential power instead of seeing it constantly whittled away. Above all lives were saved instead of being needlessly wasted. Here again I'm afraid things have changed and not for the better, but that is for other threads and not for this one, where we look back upon the best of all possible worlds from our virtual crewroom. Another log on the fire perhaps?