didn't quite cut it on the front line on their first or second tour.
In 'the day', that might have been the case but to get selected for test pilot training these days you have to be above average or exceptional in the air and the application form is completed by both your sqn cdr and the stn cdr. Your 5000 gets a good scrub and you have to convince 2 separate selection boards. Test pilots are just experienced and competent pilots in whom we have invested a year of intensive training.
The UK trains 9 test pilots and flight test engineers a year, including RN and Army officers. Following the course, most fast jet test pilots are posted to 41. A handful of test pilots do return to the front line - in all 3 services but the demand for second tourist test pilots (as sqn execs, teaching on ETPS or in a staff job at a PT or in the MAA) generally outweighs the pool of available people.
Help this helps.