RAF Voluntary Bands are voluntary military, brass or pipe bands that provide music for ceremonial and social occasions within the Royal Air Force, as well as local and national charities. [2] In contrast to the RAF's professional musical bands (the RAF Central Band, the RAF Regiment Band and the RAF College Band), the bands are formed of volunteer musicians from RAF stations, other services and members of the local community. [2]
Numerous bands were founded at the formation of the RAF on 1 April 1918. Several can trace their roots to Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps volunteer musicians. [3] The bands are centrally administered through the RAF Voluntary Band Association which, co-ordinates policy and activities and represents its members on those occasions when they are called upon to participate in major public events. [2] Each of the current nine voluntary bands in the RAF are located on a geographical basis at stations throughout the United Kingdom and Cyprus: [4]
To celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the RAF in 2008, a massed band event featuring members from all bands was held at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. [3]
There are five voluntary RAF pipe bands spread across the UK: three in Scotland and two in England. These are administered through the RAF Pipe Bands Association [5] These are currently located at: [6]
The pipe bands compete in several contests, and the Pipe Band Association holds its own annual contest for members which includes solo events as well as band contests. [7]
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, during the Second World War, the RAF established clear air superiority over Hermann Göring's Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, and led the allied strategic bombing effort.
Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World War but is due to close by December 2027.
Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, 4.2 miles (6.8 km) south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in England.
Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland.
Number 8 Squadron of the Royal Air Force last operated the Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW1 (AWACS) from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. As of 2020, the RAF AWACS fleet was made up of three Sentry AEW1s, down from seven originally ordered in the late 1980s. Pursuant to the 2021 defence review, the E-3D Sentry aircraft made its final flight in U.K. service in August 2021.
The Royal Air Force Regiment is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such tasks are non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO), recovery of downed aircrew, and in-depth defence of airfields by way of aggressively patrolling and actively seeking out infiltrators in a large area surrounding airfields. In addition the RAF Regiment provides Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) to the British Army in the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) role, and provides flight size commitment to the Special Forces Support Group.
No. 2 Group is a group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was reactivated in 2000, and is today part of Air Command.
The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming is a British Army training establishment that provides instruction on Scottish pipe band music to military pipers and drummers.
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces. It provides a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service, and consists of paid volunteers who give up some of their weekends, evenings and holidays to train at one of a number of squadrons around the United Kingdom. Its current mission is to provide trained personnel in support of the regular RAF.
No. 2622 (Highland) Squadron RAuxAF Regiment, is a Royal Auxiliary Air Force RAF Regiment reserve squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth. It is the northernmost RAuxAF Unit in the United Kingdom and was formed in 1979 to assist with the ground defence of that airfield. Initially, personnel were recruited solely from the local area but recruiting now extends as far south as Edinburgh and Glasgow and to the North, East and West Coasts of Scotland. The Squadron is established for 116 Auxiliary personnel plus a small contingent of regular RAF personnel.
The Royal Air Force Waddington Voluntary Band is the largest of the RAF's eight voluntary bands. It has been based at RAF Waddington for a number of years although it was previously based at RAF Scampton. The band currently has a membership of approximately 60 musicians. In the history of Voluntary Bands, membership been open to only serving members of the RAF who would play as a secondary duty. Modern Voluntary Bands have a wide range of members including serving members as well as retired service personnel, local civilians, students and many dependents. The band openly welcomes enquiries from all members of the public and RAF looking for more information on joining.
RAF Wyton Area Voluntary Band is one of eight Voluntary bands within the Royal Air Force providing musical support to the RAF and local communities. Founded in 1955, the military band is based at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire and is under the administration of RAF Brampton Wyton Henlow. Its membership consists of volunteer musicians from local RAF stations and members of the local community.
Canadian military bands are a group of personnel in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) that performs musical duties for military functions. Military bands form a part of the Music Branch of the CAF, composed of six full-time professional Regular Force bands, 15 Regular Force voluntary bands, and 53 part-time reserve force bands. Bands of the Music Branch are often badged with the unit or Canadian Forces base insignia that they support.
Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, England just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton.
Royal Air Force Leuchars or more simply RAF Leuchars is a former Royal Air Force station located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the station was home to fighter aircraft which policed northern UK airspace. The station ceased to be an RAF station at 12:00 hrs on 31 March 2015 when it became Leuchars Station and control of the site was transferred to the British Army. The RAF temporarily returned to Leuchars between August and October 2020 to carry out QRA (I) responsibilities while runway works were being carried out at RAF Lossiemouth.
At the end of the Cold War in 1989, the Royal Air Force (RAF) structure was as follows:
The military bands of the United Kingdom are musical units that serve for protocol and ceremonial duties as part of the British Armed Forces. They have been the basis and inspiration for many military bands in the former British Empire and the larger Commonwealth of Nations as well as musical organizations in other countries. Military musical units with British influence include United States military bands, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Music Corps and the Military Band of Athens. British military bands are controlled by the military music departments of the three services that compose the armed forces. These include the Royal Marines Band Service, the Royal Corps of Army Music, and the Royal Air Force Music Services. British style brass bands and carnival bands were then and are currently inspired by the British Armed Forces and its brass bands, especially of the Army's regular and reserve formations, as they follow a similar format as it relates to brass and percussion instruments.
This is the structure of the Royal Air Force, as of October 2020.