New Army uniform

[Brit_in_CAP]

I know about the Chief Technician and Senior Aircraftman grades - interesting that the other Commonwealth air forces did not adopt them. 

Never doubted that you would know!  I always considered that the Commonwealth stayed away from what became a nightmare to administer; there was always a real irritation about Chief Tech whereas the Jnr Tech sat nicely in the system.

Interesting also that the RAF (and RNZAF) have special designators for NCO aircrew:

Yes - sadly necessary to explain the extreme youth of many aircrew Sergeants when compared to their non-flying colleagues.  That said, if you were aircrew you might take a different view!  Honestly, now that aircrew brevets can be worn on the jackets and the uniform pullovers, that argument is harder to make.

Final comment is that the Lance Corporal has made a return in the RAF Regiment only, where they found that senior SAC Gunners were leading fire teams and larger formations in the field, and re-introduced the rank to make them visually compatible with their colleagues of other services and nations, as well as acknowledging what they actually did.  Long overdue recognition in my view.