Marshal of the Royal Air Force (MRAF) is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force (RAF). In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff (CAS), who were promoted to it on their last day of service. While surviving Marshals of the RAF retain the rank for life, the highest rank to which officers on active service are promoted is now air chief marshal. Although general promotions to Marshal of the Royal Air Force have been discontinued since the British defence cuts of the 1990s, further promotions to the rank may still be made in wartime, for members of the Royal Family and certain very senior RAF air officers in peacetime at the discretion of the monarch; all such promotions in peacetime are only honorary, however. In 2012, the then Prince of Wales was promoted to the rank in recognition of his support for his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in her capacity as head of the armed forces (commander-in-chief), while in 2014 Lord Stirrup, who had served as Chief of the Air Staff and Chief of the Defence Staff for over seven years, was also promoted.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edward Johns, is a retired senior Royal Air Force commander. He was a fighter pilot in the 1960s, commanding officer of a squadron during the 1970s and a station commander in the 1980s. Johns served as one of three British directors of operations on the senior planning staff for Operation Granby in 1991 and then acted as a supporting commander for joint operations in the Balkans in 1994. As Chief of the Air Staff he advised the British Government on the air force aspects of the Strategic Defence Review and on NATO's air campaign in Kosovo.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Andrew Henry Humphrey, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He fought in the Second World War as a fighter pilot taking part in the Battle of Britain and also took part in the withdrawal from Aden in November 1967. He served as the Chief of the Air Staff advising the new Labour Government on the implementation of their latest Defence Review. He then served as Chief of the Defence Staff but caught pneumonia within three months of taking office and died shortly afterwards.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael James Graydon, is a retired Royal Air Force (RAF) officer. He was a fast jet pilot in the 1960s, a squadron commander in the 1970s and a station commander in the 1980s before serving as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Strike Command during the Gulf War. He was Chief of the Air Staff from 1992 to 1997, in which role he advised the British Government on the implementation of No Fly Zones in Iraq and Bosnia and implemented the Front Line First initiative.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Forster Dickson, was a Royal Naval Air Service aviator during the First World War, a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the inter-war years and a Royal Air Force commander during and after the Second World War. Dickson was Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1950s, in which role his main preoccupation was the establishment of the V Force and the necessary supporting weapons, airfields and personnel. He also served as the first Chief of the Defence Staff in the late 1950s.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Dermot Alexander Boyle, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War initially as a staff officer with the Advanced Air Striking Force in Reims in which capacity he organised the evacuation of the Force through Brest in May 1940. His war service included tours as a bomber squadron commander, as a station commander and also as an air group commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the late 1950s and, in that role, deployed British air power during the Suez Crisis in October 1956 and defended the RAF against the views of Duncan Sandys, the Minister for Defence, who believed that the V bomber force rendered manned fighter aircraft redundant.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Geoffrey Pike, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War as a night fighter squadron commander and then as a station commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1960s and, in that role, deployed British air power as part of the British response to the Brunei Revolt. Also, in the face of escalating costs, he implemented the cancellation of the British Blue Streak ballistic missile system but then found the RAF was without any such capability when the Americans cancelled their own Skybolt ballistic missile system. He went on to be Deputy Supreme Commander Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in the mid-1960s.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was the only officer who fought and commanded a squadron during the Battle of Britain to reach the post of Chief of the Air Staff. In the latter role he implemented the final stages of the RAF's withdrawal from the Persian Gulf and the Far East, oversaw the ordering and subsequent cancellation of the F-111 strike aircraft and handed over Britain's nuclear deterrent role to the Royal Navy.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Keith Alec Williamson, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served with the Royal Australian Air Force flying Meteors in a ground attack role during the Korean War. He was a squadron commander and then a station commander during the 1960s and a senior air commander in the 1980s. He was Chief of the Air Staff during the early 1980s at the time of the emergency airlift of food and supplies to Ethiopia.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Patrick Bardon Hine, is a former senior Royal Air Force commander. Most notably, he was joint commander of all British forces during the Gulf War.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Hugh Moran, was a fast jet pilot and later a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of Air Command at the time of his unexpected death.
Air Marshal David Walker, was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He was the Deputy Commander, Allied Joint Force Command at Brunssum in the Netherlands from 2011 to 2013, having previously served for over three years as Deputy Commander, Allied Air Component Command at Ramstein in Germany. Prior to that appointment he was Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in the United Kingdom.
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Barraclough was a Royal Air Force pilot during the Second World War who went on to become Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff.
Air Chief Marshal Stuart William Peach, Baron Peach, is a British retired senior Royal Air Force officer. After training as a navigator, Peach commanded IX (Bomber) Squadron and then became Deputy Station Commander RAF Bruggen. He was deployed as NATO Air Commander (Forward) in Kosovo in 2000. He went on to be Chief of Defence Intelligence in 2006, Chief of Joint Operations in 2009 and the first Commander of Joint Forces Command in December 2011 before being appointed Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff in May 2013. Peach succeeded General Sir Nick Houghton as Chief of the Defence Staff on 14 July 2016. He succeeded General Petr Pavel as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee on 29 June 2018, serving as such until his retirement from NATO in June 2021.
Air Marshal Sir Barry Mark North, is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer, who served as Deputy Commander (Personnel) at RAF Air Command. A helicopter pilot, North has held command appointments at all levels, notably No. 78 Squadron in the Falkland Islands, the Special Forces Flight as a squadron leader and the newly established No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group in the Middle East as an air commodore.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael James Douglas Stear, was a senior commander of the Royal Air Force (RAF). He served as Deputy Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe from 1992 to 1996.
Air Marshal Sir Timothy Michael Anderson, is a retired senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer. He served as the inaugural Director-General of the UK Military Aviation Authority (MAA) from 2010 to 2013. The MAA was established in response to the Haddon-Cave Review into the issues surrounding the loss of an RAF Nimrod over Afghanistan in September 2006. Earlier in his career, Anderson was a fast jet pilot, primarily flying the Tornado ground attack aircraft, and as Officer Commanding No. 14 Squadron led the United Kingdom's Tornado commitment to Operation Allied Force, the NATO air campaign over Kosovo in 1999, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He is currently Chairman of the UK Airspace Change Organising Group Steering Committee, overseeing a national infrastructure programme on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport and the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Douglas Pulford, is a retired senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander. A helicopter pilot with operational service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands War and Iraq War, Pulford commanded RAF Odiham and No. 2 Group, and served as Assistant Chief of Defence Staff Operations, before taking up the post of Deputy Commander-in-Chief Personnel at Air Command and Air Member for Personnel in 2010. He became Chief of the Air Staff on 31 July 2013, retiring from the Royal Air Force on 12 July 2016.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter de Lacy Le Cheminant, was a senior commander of the Royal Air Force (RAF), who served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff from 1974 to 1976 and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Central Europe from 1976 until his retirement in 1979.
Hamzah bin Sahat is a retired Bruneian airman and the 11th Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) who served in post from September 2020 until his retirement in March 2022. He previously held the position as the 14th Commander of the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAirF) from 2018 to 2020.
