List of Royal Air Force personnel

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This article lists those members of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom who have become either nationally or internationally famous. This could either be due to commanding squadrons or higher formations in memorable operations, by being awarded high honours or by gaining fame subsequent to their RAF service.

Contents

Notable Royal Air Force personnel

Notable people who previously served in the RAF

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Dowding</span> British officer in the Royal Air Force (1882-1970)

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally credited with playing a crucial role in Britain's defence, and hence, the defeat of Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard</span> Royal Flying Corps commander and first Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff (1873–1956)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the "Father of the Royal Air Force."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trafford Leigh-Mallory</span> British Air Chief Marshal

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Leigh-Mallory served as a Royal Flying Corps pilot and squadron commander during the First World War. Remaining in the newly formed RAF after the war, Leigh-Mallory served in a variety of staff and training appointments throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshal of the Royal Air Force</span> Highest rank in the Royal Air Force (RAF)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wing commander</span> Commissioned rank in the RAF and air forces of other Commonwealth countries

Wing commander is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical British influence, including many Commonwealth countries but not including Canada and South Africa. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. It ranks immediately above squadron leader and immediately below group captain.

Air marshal is an air-officer rank which originated within the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence, including many Commonwealth nations. The rank is usually equivalent to a vice admiral or a lieutenant general.

Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and RAF, and as FLTLT in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and has sometimes also been abbreviated as F/L in many services; it has never been correctly abbreviated as "lieutenant". A flight lieutenant ranks above flying officer and below a squadron leader and is sometimes used as an English language translation of a similar rank in non-English-speaking countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall</span> Senior Royal Air Force officer (1886–1963)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Cyril Louis Norton Newall, 1st Baron Newall, was a senior officer of the British Army and Royal Air Force. He commanded units of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in the First World War, and served as Chief of the Air Staff during the first years of the Second World War. From 1941 to 1946 he was the Governor-General of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder</span> Marshal of the Royal Air Force (1890-1967)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, was a Scottish senior Royal Air Force commander. He was a pilot and squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and he went on to serve as a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the inter-war years when he served in Turkey, Great Britain and the Far East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)</span> Professional head of the Royal Air Force

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) is the professional head of the Royal Air Force and a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Air Force Board. The post was created in 1918 with Major General Sir Hugh Trenchard as the first incumbent. The current and 30th Chief of the Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, who succeeded Sir Michael Wigston on 2 June 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Beetham</span> RAF Air Marshal (1923–2015)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael James Beetham, was a Second World War bomber pilot and a high-ranking commander in the Royal Air Force from the 1960s to the 1980s. As Chief of the Air Staff during the Falklands War he was involved in the decision to send the Task Force to the South Atlantic. At the time of his death Beetham was one of only six people holding his service's most senior rank and, excluding Prince Philip's honorary rank, and had the longest time in rank, making him the senior Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

The term used in the Royal Air Force (RAF) to refer to all ranks below commissioned officer level is other ranks (ORs). It includes warrant officers (WOs), non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and airmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Slessor</span> Senior commander in the Royal Air Force

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Cotesworth Slessor, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF), serving as Chief of the Air Staff from 1950 to 1952. As a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, he saw action with No. 17 Squadron in the Middle East, earning the Military Cross, and with No. 5 Squadron on the Western Front, where he was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre. Between the wars he commanded No. 4 Squadron in England, and No. 3 (Indian) Wing, earning the Distinguished Service Order for operations with the latter in Waziristan. In 1936, he published Air Power and Armies, which examined the use of air power against targets on and behind the battlefield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)</span> Senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines

Lieutenant general, formerly more commonly lieutenant-general, is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank; some British lieutenant generals sometimes wear three-star insignia, in addition to their standard insignia, when on multinational operations.

At the eastern end of Westminster Abbey in the Lady Chapel built by King Henry VII is the RAF Chapel dedicated to the men of the Royal Air Force who died in the Battle of Britain between July and October 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Drummond (RAF officer)</span> Royal Air Force senior commander

Air Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond, was an Australian-born senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He rose from private soldier in World War I to air marshal in World War II. Drummond enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914 and the following year saw service as a medical orderly during the Gallipoli campaign. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and became a fighter ace in the Middle Eastern theatre, where he was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order and Bar. Transferring to the RAF on its formation in 1918, he remained in the British armed forces for the rest of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Middle East Command</span> Former command of the Royal Air Force

Middle East Command was a command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) that was active during the Second World War. It had been preceded by RAF Middle East, which was established in 1918 by the redesignation of HQ Royal Flying Corps Middle East that had been activated in 1917 although a small Royal Flying Corps presence had been operational in the region since 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Kellam Tylee</span> Canadian air force commander

Air Commodore Arthur Kellam Tylee OBE was Canadian officer who served in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. After the War, Tylee was the first Air Officer Commanding of the Canadian Air Force.

References

  1. "RAF founder remembered". BBC News. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  2. Hayward, Anthony (29 June 1999). "Fred Feast Obituary". The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  3. Witherow, John, ed. (19 August 2017). "Sir Bruce Forsyth – Obituary". The Times. No. 72306. p. 86. ISSN   0140-0460.
  4. Houterman, J.N. "Royal Air Force (Volunteer Reserve) Officers 1939–1945 – V". www.unithistories.com.