Just asked him again—he said about 30% of their aircrew (officers) don’t have a college degree. Most of the ones I’ve worked with (~20) didn’t.
Point is, it works for them.
One thing that folks tend to forget is that the RAF and RAAF along with pretty much every other air force in the world, except the Chinese, are
much smaller than the USAF and US Naval Air Forces. What works for them probably wouldn't work for us or be much more difficult for us in many cases. Like the 'flying only' career track that exists in the RAF, in an air force ~10% the size of the US Navy it is a lot easier to handle more diverse personnel tracks than a huge organization like ours.
As for college degrees, it provides an easy 'filter' for the USAF, Navy and Marines to determine who has a better chance of being a successful line officer and aviator. All services provide a path for highly successful enlisted personnel to become an officers and aviators but they can provide only some of need, not all of it. Other countries have different requirements that don't include degrees but again,
they have much smaller air forces and can be more selective and more targeted in who they recruit. Arguably one of the best air forces of any size is the Israeli Air Force and they recruit, train and even do their 'RAG' training in a different way (they usually don't have one) than pretty much everyone else, taking brand new recruits often without a college education and turn them in combat-ready pilots by the age of 21-22. In a country where almost everyone serves and getting into an elite combat unit is similar to getting into Harvard or Stanford, they can afford to do it that way.
For the Army, as I said before their pilots are just as skilled as any other in the service but their aviation component has a completely different focus and mission than the other services. What works for them likely won't work for the other services.
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