RAFAC Vs VGS and wings n stuff

Adult Staff
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Something occurred to me yesterday…

It is my understanding that VGS uniformed offices are still VTR officers, and therefore technically part of the RAF? Where is air cadets officers hold a cadet commission and are not part of the RAF anymore.

Can a cadet officer serve as a uniformed staff member on a Vgs as well as their sqn? Would you have to be a civilian instructor instead?

On that one, are civilian gliding licence qualifications transferable to the VGS, or do you have to take a conversion course (I assume this is probably) or even start again.

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Staff on VGS hold CFC commissions like the rest of the organisation. However my understanding is certain elements of 2FTS/Central Gliding School at RAF Syerston hold VR(T) commissions for regulatory reasons relating to the Robin they use for aerotows

Yes

I don’t believe so

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Military personnel on duty can fly a civilian registered aircraft without holding a pilot’s licence. As a result, AEF pilots flying civilian registered Tutors, and some 2FTS personnel flying a civilian tug aircraft, have remained on RAFVR(T) commissions so they can be ‘military personnel’.

Vikings are military aircraft, ironically, so they can be flown without needing to hold a pilot’s licence anyway, whether by military or civilian personnel. So, VGS staff are on CFCs.

All of this might slightly call into question the claim that the CFC is a ‘military’ commission (can of worms here…) - certainly RAF legal have not wanted to test that one out…

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Has anyone claimed it is a military commission? I think I have only ever seen it simply called a commission

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All the comms I remember seeing when it was brought out emphasised that it was not a military commission but rather a civilian one, though I may be mistaken. That was a very very very long thread

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I thought the whole point was to remove the holders of CFCs from military law and particularly the service complaints process? A commission doesn’t need to be military in order to be a proper commission: it just needs the sovereign’s signature.

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