Armed Forces Bill

Indeed. I can assure my hon. Friend that I am about to speak at greater length about the Army Air Corps. An ex-military aviator—a soldier of 35 years standing, who is now the airfield manager at Middle Wallop, but has 5,000 hours as a helicopter pilot in the Army Air Corps—has drawn to my attention an anomaly in paragraph (b), which deals with punishments. An officer guilty of causing an annoyance by flying can be punished only by loss of seniority or by a fine, but a non-commissioned officer may be sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. As many Members know, the pilots of the Army Air Corps are predominantly NCOs, as was the case in the RAF during the second world war, although not nowadays. It has been suggested that the penalty for a proven offence may discriminate against NCOs in the Army Air Corps. Can the Minister comment on that? I realise that that may be difficult as he is new to his post.