ROYAL AIR FORZA

RAF chiefs are sending wannabe Top Guns to Italy for key training due to a shortage of British instructors as the forces' recruitment and retention crisis deepens.

- SEAN RAYMENT

The shock move means rookie pilots will get their advanced tuition 1,200 miles away from headquarters at Decimomannu airbase in Sardinia.

The deal to use "international instructors" was agreed a fortnight ago in a desperate bid to tackle a backlog of student pilots, who are facing waits of up to a year for training slots.

Hundreds more trainees have been put on hold while waiting to progress and it is believed one reason for the crisis is instructors leaving for higher-paid roles in commercial aviation.

RAF instructors can earn up to £75,000 but civilian airline captains can trouser double that.

The disclosure on the Italy link-up came after Britain agreed to help train Ukrainians to fly US F-16 combat jets - which RAF chiefs say could further impact already stretched resources.

CRISIS

Former RAF flying instructor Tim Davies branded our training programme a "scandal" and warned it could threaten national security.

He told us: "Very soon, unless the RAF sorts its flying training system out, it is not going to have a front line with which to win wars.

"The most important thing is to prioritise the training of instructors. Unless you have enough, you can't train students.

"It's taking seven-and-ahalf years to get students through fast jet training whereas in the US it takes about two-and-a-half. It is a scandal. This crisis also raises the question as to how the RAF is going to train Ukrainian pilots when it can't train enough of its own."

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the head of the RAF, was pictured signing the training agreement last month with Italian counterpart Lt General Luca Goretti.