I guess that is a bit like infantry cap badged units calling their SSgt/SSIs ‘colour sgt’.
I wish we could have Cdt AS2/AS1, chief tech etc just to mess with their heads in return.
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We really should. One of the main differences between us and the Army is that our junior ranks, once trained, wear badges of rank. For sone reason we do t replicate this in RAFAC and most cadets have nothing on their shoulders at all.
To honour lost RAF ranks we should have Air Cadet Class 2 (AC2), AC1 (both with no rank slides), Leading Air Cadet (AS2; two-bladed prop), Senior Air Cadet (AS1 three blades), Junior Trainee (JT; four bladed bath taps of power) and have Regt sections with cadet lance corporals.
Edit to add:
Yes, as a Guards company we had lance sergeants and colour sergeants too, although the adult CSgts were officially SSIs.
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I’d love to have been a Cadet Corporal of Horse or Pioneer Sergeant. But the beard would have been a stretch.
JTechs use to have one inverted stripe back in the day no reason we can’t go back to this.
It’s also why L/Cpl in CCF(RAF) use to be called J/Cpl 
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Technical ranks did have inverted stripes. Think it was in the 50s…
Lasted about as long as the aircrew ranks.
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The question needs to be asked “how many tanks do we really need?”
If you get rid of Staff Cadets you have a Cadet life of maximum 6 years.
Considering most OC’s don’t tend to promote until the 18 month/2 year mark, that’s then a promotion every year if you want to have a year as a CWO.
Thinking of it like that I don’t see that there is any need for an extra rank on the bottom end.
I would also start leaning towards the ACF model of having only a handful of CWO’s maybe 1 per sector and a Wing CWO.
Like in the RAF, the lower ranks needn’t be full promotions on merit but a combination of time and progress through training.
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I would say that they already are to a large extent, especially the Corporals.
Don’t set them off, they’ll throw Bombardiers, Lance Sergeants and all sorts of other wacky things back at us.
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As a CWO I helped out a unit who shared a compound with Donkey Wallopers, was very confusing in the bar. 
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During my army basic training, my Troop was run by a Lt, with support from a sergeant, 2 Corporals and a Lance Sergeant (I think another Squadron had a Serjant) whilst training half of the Squadron to go on to become Troopers instead of Privates.
Luckily, the Corps that I was joining used standardised ranks
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It’s also about the operational doctrine of the ACO.
If Squadrons are still supposed to remain as free-standing units able to conduct independent activities/training, then they need a coherent rank structure - Cpl’s as section commanders, Sgt’s as flight commanders, FS/CWO as Battery Captains - but if not, with (almost) all non-classroom activities at a section/wing level, then that requirement goes away, and it matters less if there’s less of a coherent rank structure for the cadets, because such training/activities are likely to be more heavily controlled by adult staff.
Personally, I see no need for additional ranks, and indeed I’d prune one of FC/CWO if I was binning over 18 cadet service.
For me, the fundamental is that a cadet Cpl needs to be able to manage/lead a group of 7/8 13/14yo inexperienced cadets on a day walk over Dartmoor in poor weather and to be able to handle stuff like getting a bit lost, morale issue’s, and the able to manage a casualty event. If that’s not the starting point, I see no point in cadets holding rank.
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You’re trolling right? Probably less than 5% of CFAVs are qualified and competent to do that.
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Utter nonsense. That’s not what you expect from the junior cadet rank.
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I was going to say the same thing, they are Cadet Corporals not doing Junior Brecon.
The job of a Corporal is to set a good example to the Junior Cadets and to lead simple tasks like sweeping up the main hall or loading a trailer.
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I might expect that from a particularly engaged FS/CWO, but to ask that of a cadet corporal is asking too much too soon.
I see a Corporal as a senior buddy to junior cadets and not a lot else. Yes, I’ll still ask them to take responsibility for basic tasks (running the canteen, ensuring an area of squadron duties is completed satisfactorily) but I’m not wanting them to go after a dark green or a sandy beret.
I’m genuinely surprised at the reaction to that…
Firstly, it’s the standard that almost all of the half dozen or so Sqn’s I’ve been on have worked towards - it’s not necessarily what we’d expect on day one of being a Cpl, but they’d be promoted on the basis of their potential to meet that standard, and with training and experience, it’s certainly the standard we’d expect them to meet after a year in post. And guess what - they overwhelmingly meet that standard.
Secondly, it’s about the standard we require for DofE bronze - there’s nothing on the bronze expedition that’s outside of that, so why shouldn’t it transfer to normal Sqn life?
We discussed this years ago on here, and some RAF/ex-RAF SNCO popped up and honked off that (to paraphrase), being able to read a map was something you’d learn on SF selection - he got a round roasting…
You’d be surprised how much this kind of thing is still an issue. I was on AMLC with sone NCA a few months ago and they were decrying how the new DE SNCO course doesn’t teach map reading like the old NCAITC did: so they’re now having to teach this on the sqns.
If you are throwing Bronzes into wild country you aren’t doing it correctly.
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Is this about the group management/leadership skills, or the specific environment?