I graduated as a Sergeant Pilot in the RAAF in December 1952. On my OTU course (Mustangs and single seat Vampires) there were five NCO pilots and five commissioned Pilot Officers who had graduated about the same time as us sergeants at Point Cook after a four year degree and permanent commission. In other words career officers. All good blokes.
All were destined to go directly on operations during the Korean war. After successfully passing the Mustang part of the course I went on to the Vampires where later to my chagrin my air to air cine camera gunnery results were unsatisfactory so I got scrubbed.
All the fighter combat instructors (FCI) at the OTU had just returned from Korea after a 100 missions and were short service commissioned officers having been promoted from NCO rank after leaving Korea. Briefings on fighter tactics were held every day before flying. But one very rarely got to talk with individual FCI's during the day since all flying was in single seat fighters. What I remember however was at the end of each day the instructors would go back to the Officers Mess and have a few beers. I am sure that over the Officers Mess bar they would impart pearls of fighter wisdom to the Pilot Officer graduates as the evening wore on. At the same time, on the other side of the parade ground, we NCO pilots would retire to the Sergeants Mess and learn nothing by watching the old shell-back senior NCO's talk about their wartime ground staff experiences. As 20 year old NCO pilots we were seen as sprogs and not worth talking to.
This is where the NCO pilot system fell down in my view. There was immense value in being able to talk to our instructors after work over the days flying and real life experience war stories discussed over a friendly beer.
The recently graduated Pilot Officers from the RAAF College had that advantage because, after all, their instructors were in the same Officers Mess. I often think we NCO pilots missed out badly in this regard. Some years later the RAAF scrubbed the NCO pilot policy and everyone graduated as Pilot Officers.
Finally, I remember the occasion in the OCU crew rooms when one of the FCI's was a decorated former Spitfire pilot who was heavily involved in the European air battles. He held his coffee in his hand while he chatted casually to another FCI - this time a Pilot Officer who won a DFC in Korea. The discussion was on radar controlled AA guns used by the Germans and the tactics needed to minimise the chances of being shot down by these fearsome weapons.
As a 20 year old sergeant with a mere 230 flying hours in my log book, I was very keen to listen in to their conversation and maybe learn something to save my own skin if I went to Korea. But because of the difference in rank I was too shy to butt in to join the two men. I tried to pick up their conversation within ear shot without being obvious. That didn't work so I found myself drifting to another part of the briefing room to read a survival pamphlet. As it turned out I never got to Korea so I missed nothing.