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.
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.
