There have been Long Lead Skills guys (every spec, not just pilot or deck handler) on US and French Carriers for the last 5+ years.

Do you actually think they will come back?

Once Donald Trump's elected, yes.

Glad [!] we are in AGREEMENT then :D

On the basis I've met a few of them round and about, yes.

The last Yeovilton based FW were scrapped in 2005 weren't they? That year comes to mind but I could be wrong. Its a long time ago. The guys that were the Aircraft Handlers then actually working the decks and the hangars at Leading Hand level have mostly left or unsurprisingly been promoted to CPO or Warrant. There is still a hard core of the right people knocking around, (just about) but they wont survive or wait forever. But I'm still confident the Navy will be able to do it though, with the deck side of things. They still have the School of Flight Deck Operations to train the newcomers and that is still based around a hard core of highly experienced Senior Ratings. Just a case of sensibly bringing people in, bringing them up to speed - its not rocket science. I wouldn't worry about the ratings, its the officers I would be worried about. Are they going to be able to fill the controller billets, the ATC side of things? Who will act as Cdr Air, and "F"? Far harder boots to fill IMHO. Hard enough getting good ones when they were going cheap...
If the flight trials are in 2018, as above its not that far away really (after all this time). If they were worried about getting experienced people in (which I'm sure they are not anyway) they should make arrangements to recruit ex people as short term reservists even - I'm sure they would come back - or even bring people back as civilians to help mentor and train the young guys until they get up to speed.

"its the officers I would be worried about."
Shouldn't we all! :ok:

"Are they going to be able to fill the controller billets, the ATC side of things? Who will act as Cdr Air, and "F"? Far harder boots to fill IMHO. Hard enough getting good ones when they were going cheap..."
Someone better tell drafty and the appointers that there are some carriers coming so that they can start to get people trained up and in post!

"even bring people back as civilians to help mentor and train the young guys until they get up to speed."
Don't worry instead of doing any planning or training, we've ordered all available back-order box sets of "Sailor" and are sending them out to people to watch on the train up to Rosyth the day before they join.

Like this one, for example?

Are you sure? I thought they were going for the bean-counter-recommended option of putting raw recruits in each role and letting them learn the skills on-the-job. I gather the only controversial bit was complying with the HSE mandate to put large red "L" insignia (on a white background) on both sides of the hull and the stern...

:\

PDR

There seems to be a lot of panic regarding flight deck ops. We have been using carriers since the Harrier ZFPs went out of service. Is the recovery of an F-35 VSTOL largely different to the recovery of a Merlin/Sea King? And launching is hardly taxing, just roll them up to the line and say go! Aircraft movements are aircraft movements, just using a different deck. Calm down people, the RN will achieve! :ok:

That's what they told me, and I believed them.

Right up until I tried to attach an underslung load to a hovering F35. It stings, you know...

:)

PDR

Use an earthing pole first, next time. :)

I would have done, but this was an operational voyage so there were no foreign nationals on board.

I had to use an earthing northerner instead. It normally works, but this one was the leader of the ship's band. And unfortunately (as we all know) the ship's band leader is always a hopeless conductor...

PDR

RN are all over this. LLSS has helped to a point, but more importantly it has retained vital experience that would have otherwise withered given the time between the last jets on board and the next time we'll see jets on board. The skills specialised in are important. They aren't necessarily 1:1 of what is required of the individual when they go aboard QEC but it isn't far off.

Overall, the RN have been extremely forward leaning and pragmatic on this issue. Ways to go yet but doing the best we as UK plc can to range a very potent carrier strike capability as soon as practicable. Why pay so much if you can't?

Anything been published on what a UK Carrier Group will consist of ?

I presume a Carrier, a T45, a T26 and an SSN will be basic - but that's a lot of the Navy's eggs in one place.....................

Why would you specify what goes in the group?
Different foes require different assets. Not much need of an SSN if you are bombing Afghanistan.

Wouldn't you always need one to protect the carrier e.g. from some third party that might decide to take advantage of the situation?

Not much need of a carrier either without AAR.

Not always, no.

Do you imagine that our last carriers always had an SSN lurking?

Carriers generally steam at >18kts (much greater when conducting flight ops). Typical speed of advance for a carrier battle group is usually taken as 20kts. At those speeds an SSN won't be covert, so its a waste of an asset.

PDR