Naval Pilots
 

Hi guys

I have just popped over from Rotorheads.

I was asked a question today by my daughter who is in the Army as to why the Fleet Air Arm and RAF only use Commissioned pilots. I didn't know

Any help would be much appreciated :ok:

Thanks

TC

Excellent question...........:oh:

Because it is then easier to justify the necessary wage for retention.

No justifiable reason in this day and age. Some will say it is due to the need to grow the command structure through the stars, but that can still be achieved by talent spotting in the early stages. You don't need to be an officer to be a pilot, the AAC have proved that and they will stay longer in the job too.

I believe historically it was something to do with not trusting baldrick with nuclear weapons.

Thanks guys. Your help is much appreciated. :ok: I will link this forum to her and she can sort out what she wants.

TC

Historical/tradition/habit. No other valid reason in this day & age. I've no doubt there will be old school types who will disagree however... :bored:

(mini, commissioned)

I don't know when they were phased out but my father was a Sergeant Pilot in the RAF towards the end of WW2.

What VinRouge said. With the advent of the V-Force, only Officers were to drop buckets of sunshine.

Thats what I've been told for years. No reason not to have NCO pilots if it's true.

Ray

There are very good answers on here:

When did the RAF ensure that all pilots were officer rank? [Archive] - E-Goat :: The Totally Unofficial Royal Air Force Rumour Network forums

Worldwide, how many other air forces use NCO pilots? US Army use CWO so not strictly NCOs.

In Germany a few decades ago all pilots that were at the time NCOs did get a comission, nowadays only commissioned pilots.
Before that: Plenty of NCOs.

Tom

I was led to believe that it arose in the early days of the Great White Detergent. They could bomb the USSR into oblivion, but hadn't the range to get back. Seemed like a good idea to have all the aircrew POWs as officers. Could be wrong, but it's as good an idea as any, and I doubt there is any official record (at least none that are available).

I remember serving with the last Warrant Officer pilot to be forced to accept a commission in the 1960s.

Why not just ask the MoD? And then tell us the answer.

The RAF's last NCO pilot was W/O "Taff" Walker, at RAF Odiham, still flying on the Wessex OCU until about 1980.

I vaguely recall that the RAF made a faux pas, by earlier publicising another pilot to be the last NCO retiree, while in fact Taff was still flying as an instructor.

I would be genuinely interested to hear how much experience the average NCO has starting Pilot's Course - and thus how much he/ she has cost prior to even seeing an aeroplane, and how many years on average the RN/RAF get from its pilots from the start of JEFTS groundschool compared to the AAC. Does anyone know?

I started my APC as a Lance Corporal having spent four years as an Aircrewman (Observer), prior to which I'd had four years as a Groundcrewman. On graduating I received a promotion to Corporal, and about two years later achieved the dizzy heights of Sergeant and Aircraft Commander, having been TQ'd and Lynx Converted on the way.

Cheap as chips, and achieved the aim.

My father was a Master Pilot and actively flying aeroplanes such as Hunters in 2TAF and finally on the NBS at Lyndholme until retiring from the R.A.F. in 1968. His only ground tour was on 106SM squadron, Bardney.
He then went on to fly with S.O.A.F. until about 1972 and I used to meet up with him in Masirah when we passed through on the Nimrod with 203sqn. He's still alive today.

Shoot me down in flames, but...... I have a couple of theories without having the actual facts at my fingertips.

All regular RAF pilots used to be officers before WW2 (unless training when they were officer cadets), but the rapid expansion of the RAF combined with the attrition rate of pilots during the war meant that NCOs were cheaper and quicker to produce. Once WW2 over there was an experiment with new RAF aircrew ranks for NCOs but this was not successful and ranks reverted - it is possible that the demise of the NCO pilot was around the time that this happened (1950).

I believe that during WW2, nations such as RAAF trained their bomber pilots while NCOs, but then gave them a commission before starting Ops tour.

As an afterthought, it is also possible that many NCO pilots were originally RAF VR and not regular pilots, but I stand to be corrected.