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The RAF is suffering a severe loss of personnel, with 30% more leaving than being recruited, according to figures released yesterday.

John Spellar, the armed forces minister, said that 2,320 people left the RAF between May and October. Only 1,777 were recruited over the period.

He gave the figures in response to a question from the shadow defence secretary, Iain Duncan-Smith, and disclosed that because of defects in the RAF's Tucano aircraft, young pilots were completing their basic fast jet training in Australia.

In a highly unusual public intervention earlier this month, Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire, chief of the air staff, told The Officer magazine that RAF flight crews were becoming frustrated because inadequate funding was depriving them of equipment to do sufficient training.

Sir Peter told The Officer it was increasingly difficult to meet the 3% annual efficiency savings demanded by the Treasury. He said the RAF's inability to buy enough "mission-critical" equipment had stretched bases in the UK. "There is a lack of quality training back at the main base," he said.

Pilots were getting only half or two thirds of the flying hours needed to refresh their skills. The problem is compounded by computer problems involving long-delayed plans to upgrade Tornado bombers.

RAF engineers are having to rob spares from one aircraft to use in another - "not an efficient way of doing business," said Sir Peter.

Pilots on average earn about £40,000 a year, including £10,950 flying pay.

The maximum they could hope to earn as a squadron leader, the highest flying rank, is about £50,000. This is significantly lower than the salaries paid even by short-haul airlines offering cheap flights.

"Pilots in their thirties can earn £10,000 more at a civil airline and the gap widens," an RAF officer said.

The RAF is short of some 100 fast jet pilots. This has added to problems of overstretch, with pilots spending more time on operations - including the no-fly zones over Iraq.

"All the money is being put into overseas operations," Andrew Brookes, airforce expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a former pilot, said yesterday.

"The only way to save money is on fuel. It is a complete and utterly ridiculous state of affairs," he said.

He added that even flying scholarships for young pilots had been abandoned. A flight simulator designed to save money on fuel had been shown not to be up to the job.

Meanwhile, lack of funds and bad management meant that it took five years to train a pilot in the RAF compared with two years in the US airforce.

He said many pilots were leaving flying altogether. They were not attracted by the higher pay and allowances in the civil airline sector, because they wanted a settled job with their families.

Many RAF personnel - not just pilots - were leaving for business where skills they learned in the services and their military background were sought after.

The armed forces review board is expected in its forthcoming awards to improve 
pilots' pay by up to £20,000 a year. There is a shortage of navy and army helicopter pilots as well as pilots for RAF multi-engined aircraft, the national Audit Office pointed out in a recent report.

It estimated that almost £42m of £155m spent on training RAF fast jet pilots in 1998/99 was lost to wastage and delays in training.

The MoD also admitted recently that almost a third of the navy's trained Sea Harrier pilots were considering resigning their commissions and leaving the service. It admitted there was concern over the possible loss of up to 13 pilots - equivalent to the strength of one of the Fleet Air Arm's two Sea Harrier squadrons.