R.A.F.’s ‘few’ are getting fewer

Press, 15 March 1978, Page 17

R.A.F.’s ‘few’ are getting fewer

I British Government’s latest Defence Estimates included an unusually frank admission that there had been a “shortage of candidates of adequate quaiity to meet the recruiting requirements for the Royal Air Force.” But behind this comment lies an even worse situation, now emerging from the reports of officers who have been touring RA F. stations to gauge future manpower requirements and to assess the potential of pilots to team now to handle the next generation of jet fighters. The Ministry of Defence savs that at present the RAF. is short of 250 “fast iet pilots.” As the total number of front-line combat planes is 500, this is serious enough. what makes it even wo-< P i s that 170 of these ed vacancies are for p >ts to learn to fly the new Tornado Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, due to ■me into service later this year.

The Tornado represents the biggest military investment in Europe. It is a joint British-German-italian development, which is intended to replace five types of fighter-bomber now in service. It will eventually be the mainstay of Britain’s air defences. The R.A.F. is to get 385 Tornados. The German Luftwaffe and Navy have ordered 322, and the Italian Air Force 100. Each will cost about SIIM. The Tornado is a particularly complex flying machine. It can fly supersonically at less than 200 feet, for instance. But officers from the R.A.F. Personnel branch, which has been carrying out the station assessments. have reported that they cannot find potential Tornado pilots for the-re-training which has now begun. Many future Tornado crews are supposed to come from the present “V” Force, former nuclear bombers now used for

maritime reconnaissance. But a senior training officer says: “We are getting people barely fit to fly.

'“Experience has proved that trying to train these people ' to become either M.R.C.A. (Tornado) instructors at the Central Flving School or Hunter pilots is a spectacular failure. In fact, not one former Vulcan man has got on to Hunters, and the Hunter is now a trainer aircraft” The shortage of talent is also causing similar problems with the Phantom, Britain’s leading defence aircraft at present “The vicious circle starts when the poor pilot begins his basic training,” says the officer. “He spends a year on Jet Provosts and Bulldogs, and then moves on to the Gnat. By this time everyone is aware that they have spent so much money that they are reluctant to call a halt to it. “Yet, when the pilot

arrives at the conversion units for the major types of aircraft, Phantoms, Harriers. Buccaneers, and Jaguars, he is just not up to it. But because his training has cost so much they cannot really chop him.

“The worst people go to the Phantoms because they cannot be trusted to do the more demanding jobs of flying too close to the ground in Harriers, Jaguars, and Buccaneers, and carry out the complex weapons deliveries. The Phantom operates at high level and as such does not require the same reaction time to avoid disaster.” R.A.F. chiefs have been shocked by the number of officers applying to leave the service under the Premature Voluntary Retirement Scheme introduced a year ago, some 3000 out of 17,000. Many of these are the very men who are needed for the new jets. The scheme has been virtually dropped, though

applications to leave the R.A.F. continue at an alarming rate. Applying pilots are now told that they cannot leave for five years at the earliest, and the R.A.F. is beseeching 55-year-olds to stay on another three years to help out by flying transports and by doing ground training jobs. Senior training officers are so worried about the possiblity of losing machines that many pilots are given only four weeks a year combat training exercise — and even this is under severe restrictions. There is also considerable alarm among commanding officers at being blamed for the mistakes of their pilots. Many senior officers, particularly wing commanders, are refusing promotion because such an incident could damage their career.

There have been some spectacular accidents as a result of overwork by under-strength crews. One Phantom crew in Germany

had just completed a tactical exercise when a N.A.T.O. team arrived without notice and ordered the base on to a full waralert exercise. Full nuclear, biological, and chemical defence conditions were imposed, so that air crews had to wear respirators and chemical defence suits. The Phantom crew had been on duty for 12 hours. Their plane went into the sea, killing them both. The Board of Inquiry put it down to fatigue. Many R.A.F. pilots say they are over-worked because the Warsaw Pact countries have a three-to-one advantage over the air services of the Western Powers. “Some dreamers believe that our pilots and machinery are three times as good, and they try to make sure that .our training is such as to bring us up to the Warsaw Pact in effectiveness. But of course, it doesn’t," one pilot said.

Many pilots blame pay as the cause of the prob-

lems. Pilots are paid a basic $7250 to $7960 a year, and are charged for accommodation and board at rates “comparable to those they would face in civilian life,” according to the Ministry of Defence. Another 'reason is believed to be the length of the commission, 16 years. Last month, the R.A.F. decided to reintroduce a short service commission of 12 years with an option to leave after eight years, to try to attract more recruits. The Ministry of Defence admits the serious pilot shortage, but a spokesman adds: “We cannot confirm the shortfall figure for Tornado pilots. We do not normally give figures of manning shortfalls. However, we have no fear that national securit" is affected.” — O"'S., Copyright.