I think this is the distinction we’ve lost. CWOs really were staff in all but name, and so you’re quite right that there likely wasn’t a distinction beyond the paperwork.
That’s certainly how I feel about my CWOs (two home-grown and one supernumerary).
Obviously the age has dropped over the years.
This is why I feel so strongly that we should exploit more of the junior ranks available to the parent service. I think we need a bit of extra padding at the lower ranks that perhaps focusses more on recognising attainment and example setting, especially now that kids join earlier and many see the availability of CWO from a younger age as a firm target — there’s a lot of dead space for the high fliers who stick around (and we’re limited to how many we can promote).