Hi there,
Just a quick one, has anyone seen the aircrew rank slides floating about?
I know they are in regs however i personally haven’t seen any around the corps however i may be wrong.
just wondering as i don’t know if its worth putting in the ranks of the RAFAC or just to briefly mention it.
cheers
Yes - saw a RAFAC flight sergeant (aircrew) and a RAFAC sergeant (aircrew) this weekend (they were from a VGS and sharing accommodation).
I saw an RAFAC sergeant (aircrew) at Kirknewton once.
I saw a FS (Aircrew) last year on camp…
Vgs sncos get given aircrew rank slides
I met one last year. I was on a course last year (not flying-related) and in conversation with a group of colleagues, a RAFAC sergeant from a separate course(also not flying-related) sidled up to us and completely unprompted said, “It means Aircrew.”
“What means Aircrew?” we asked, confused.
“The eagle above the chevrons,” he replied pointing at his rank slides.
We were not talking about anything remotely related to rank slides, gliding etc. I suggested to him it was a , not an eagle, and we went back to our conversation.
Did that really happen though?
I think its entirely possible. It’s similar to that age-old joke - how do you know you’ve got a fast-jet pilot at your party?
A: He’ll tell you.
Having met a great many aircrew in my service life, it sounds more than a little plausible…
He probably thought that @SierraTango and his group hadn’t seen the massive watch and wanted to make it easier for them to fawn over him.
Should be easy to identify then must be less than 100 and dont do many non flying courses
Absolutely happened. I’ll swear on the life of any of my cadets (not my own children, wife wouldn’t be happy with me for that.).
If I were lying, I would have embellished it more, so upon telling him it was a , everyone rolled around with raucous laughter, including Dawn McCafferty and Carol Vorderman, who were there for some reason or another. “Ladies, lets blow this joint!” I said, and the three of us strode out, arm in arm into Carol’s waiting Xsara Picasso and we drove off into the sunset.
Having done (a long time ago) a very intensive one year cse at RAF Finningley in order to get my Sgt (Aircrew) rank confirmed, I find it rather disappointing that VGS personnel can be issued these. They are not aircrew.
Oh, it’s an albatross, not an eagle - rarely called an eagle during my service - there was a previous thread in which the less than polite term was discussed… Oh, you can even buy a tie with albatross!
Most full time officers and SNCOs do much longer courses than any RAFAC personnel who get the “same” badge.
As the crew of an aircraft they’re pretty much the text book definition of aircrew.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some regular aircrew are not scathingly sarcastic if an RAFAC ‘aircrew’ start to become the big I am. Maybe there should have been a subtle alteration as until recently the aircrew awarded RPAS wings were different to mainstream aircrew.
Expecting this when some 28 year old WOs rock up on camp with T&Ls next year
Keeping the faith, I see…
You know what I mean 
And none of the experience, bearin,g presence or dignity to carry it off. To be a WO you have to have all the above qualities. I can see more than a few RAF personnel having a problem with this and going through their CoC to complain.
Remember the SWO is first amongst equals.
Please clarify. Has the ‘new’ RPAS pilot brevet been withdrawn from RAF issue?
Yup. They get the standard pilot wings now. https://twitter.com/AOC_1_Group/status/1126524879430406144?s=19
Some strong debate on the issue on this thread https://twitter.com/RoyalAirForce/status/1126518790072750085?s=19