Master Pilot is a Warrant Officer equivalent. The last one, a Wessex helicopter pilot retired in about 1980. Many Master pilots were fast-tracked commisioned when the goal posts changed. All RAF pilots are commisioned since then; theoretically politically driven by who can be responsible for Nuclear weapons. I dare say the thread will now degenerate into the usual and frequently exercised pros and cons of the need for all RAF pilots being commisioned, as the British Army still has NCO pilots.