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The Telegraph has been told that Air Chief Marshal Sir John Allison, Commander-in-Chief, Strike Command, held an emergency meeting at his headquarters in High Wycombe on May 18 to ask pilots what could be done to improve morale and persuade more to see out their full contracts.

Up to a quarter of RAF pilots are believed to be applying to leave the service using a new voluntary redundancy scheme, or at least considering leaving. Morale is believed to be at an all-time low because of uncertainty about the replacement of ageing Tornados and Jaguars, fears that the RAF will face even more cuts in personnel and status from the imminent strategic defence review and an increase in the number of lengthy stints that have to be served on distant peace-keeping stations.

A demographic timebomb in the commercial sector, with hundreds of pilots approaching retirement at the same time over the next two to three years, means that disaffected RAF aircrew will have well-paid jobs to go to, a situation that did not exist at the time of the last dispiriting round of cuts. One pilot said: "I will lose a huge chunk of my RAF pension entitlement, but the upside is that I will make all that money back and more with a commercial airline. I know a lot of people who are on the same route."

Many pilots have aired their grievances in newsgroups. One serving pilot wrote on an electronic bulletin board devoted to flying gossip:  "There comes a time when the cons outweigh the pros. Seven months in the desert in a 12-month stretch has broken the back for me." When a commercial pilot who once served in the RAF answered this complaint by saying that RAF pilots did not realise how lucky they were, another serving officer immediately said: "If the present state of the RAF is so good, why are so many people jumping ship?"

Imminent EU regulations that would prevent military pilots using their logged hours of airtime towards their commercial licences have motivated some aircrew to act now to safeguard their chances of a new career. An RAF spokesman said: "It is an issue also affecting other countries". The biggest outflow of aircrew is in the middle ranks, the experienced flight-lieutenants and squadron leaders, particularly those who are within three years of the age of 38, when any can leave freely regardless of contract.

One pilot who was at the meeting with Sir John said that he was told money was not the answer. He said: "To say that there were a few contentious points would be putting it mildly, but the big cheese was left in no doubt as to what the boys feel is awry. The C-in-C was left with the message that most of the aircrew didn't actually want to leave, but feel they are being forced out by a multitude of facts that could have been avoided if previous regimes had had the backbone to stand up to the tree-hugging blotter-jotters of the MoD and the Treasury,".

RAF aircrew complain bitterly that unlike their Cold War duties, which involved stations in Germany where their families lived with them and their hours were predictable, they are now more likely than not to be on peacekeeping duty. The service has fast jets in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait keeping watch on Saddam Hussein, and others on constant duty over the skies of Bosnia and the Falkland Islands.

There are now only two bases in Germany: there were five in 1990. Laarbruch will close next year and Bruggen by 2001. So pilots, navigators and their support staff spend long periods away from home. They also claim that there is even greater uncertainty about their future. Labour's strategic defence review will not increase the amount of money that the RAF has to spend.  Frontline forces are likely to be cut back in favour of support units of new American C-17 transporters able to carry tanks for the Joint Rapid Deployment Force to which the Ministry of Defence is strategically committed.

The RAF spokesman said: "We know we have a problem with the supply of pilots and we are hopeful that we can find a way of dealing with it." Ironically, one experiment with reservists that the MoD has begun may exacerbate the problem. Since last August, two Tornado crews have been acting as part-time fast-jet pilots, taking time off from their jobs as commercial pilots and crew for commercial airlines.

But this could encourage even more pilots to leave, as it is the thrill of flying upside-down at twice the speed of sound that persuades many to stay in the service. Other concerns centre on equipment. One pilot said: "The Hawk trainer is knackered. There's no money to replace it, but people are beginning to worry about sitting in a plane like that for hour after hour training the bods who are going to come after us."

On the Internet site, another serving RAF officer who is due to leave in the next 18 months said that he blamed the civil servants who were so keen to contract-out services like the maintenance of fast-jets. He said: "There are people mending airplanes in that famous military organisation who I wouldn't let near my dishwasher" . An RAF spokesman said: "We know there is this problem and we are taking steps to counter it."