Air force chief hails ‘best recruiting year in a decade’

The RAF is beginning to address a shortage of pilots after enjoying its best recruiting year in a decade, the head of the air force said.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, spoke as the RAF held its first ever joint graduation ceremony for officers and non-commissioned airmen at RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire on Thursday.

It marked the conclusion of the official RAF100 celebrations, which he described as a “tremendous year” for the RAF.

“Our recruitment is strong at the moment,” he said. “We’ve just had our best recruiting year in a decade.

“That’s getting us to about 100% of our recruiting targets.

“That’s welcome news, but as those recruits flow in it takes some time to go through training, particularly for pilots.

“It’s a long and intensive process so it’s going to be a while before we actually see the results of that at the frontline.

“So yes we’re short of pilots at the frontline at the moment, but not so short that we can’t do our job.”

A report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO), published in April, warned that as of January this year the country’s full-time military was operating at 5.7% below the current target.

There was a need for 800 pilots, especially in the RAF, the report stated.

“You just look at how busy the RAF is from defending the UK, right through to defeating Daesh and of course most recently an A400 (transport aircraft) deploying out to help in the disaster relief in Indonesia,” the Air Chief Marshal said.

“Yes, I’d like more pilots, we’re getting more pilots through the door, we’re training them up but there’s nothing at the moment that stops us from doing the job that we do.”

He said the RAF100 celebrations had “inspired both ourselves and future generations”.

The RAF’s first ever joint graduation ceremony saw 91 recruits, 106 officer cadets and 10 commissioned warrant officers performing a parade in front of their proud families.

There were flypasts by a Spitfire and two F-35 Lightning fighter jets as part of the day’s events.

He said of the officers and airmen graduating together for the first time: “It’s about celebrating what we are as an organisation, which is an organisation focused on the talent of the individual.

“Yes we’re rank-based because we are military, but we have a particular character and we reach out to talent wherever it is in our organisation.”

Among those graduating was officer cadet Holly Holt, 23, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, who is entering the air operations branch.

Her father is in the RAF and her childhood travelling with him inspired her to join, she said.

Asked about her training, she said: “Parts of it were a lot harder than I’d originally thought but the challenge was something that I was always up for.”

She said she hoped to work at a fast jet base in Lincolnshire.

Her father Flight Sergeant Phil Holt, who was at the ceremony, said afterwards: “I cannot put into words how proud I have felt today.

“Today has been immense, utterly immense”.