The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer youth organisation of the United Kingdom; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focussing on military aviation. Part of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC), the ATC is sponsored by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the wider Ministry of Defence (MoD). The majority of Air Training Corps staff are volunteers, though some staff are paid for full-time work; including Commandant Air Cadets, who is a Royal Air Force officer as part of a Full Term Reserve Service commitment.
University Air Squadrons are training units under the command of No. 6 Flying Training School RAF of the Royal Air Force and their main role is to attract students into careers as RAF officers. Primarily its goal is achieved through offering basic flying training, force development and adventure training to undergraduate students at British universities. These units exist to provide a taste of life in the Service and to give experience to their members in preparation for taking up a career as an officer in one of the RAF's many branches.
Acting pilot officer is the lowest commissioned grade in the Royal Air Force. Acting pilot officer is not an actual military rank, therefore acting pilot officers are regraded to pilot officer instead of receiving a promotion. Unlike other RAF ranks which officers may hold in an acting capacity, acting pilot officer is maintained as a separate grade. The grade normally denotes an officer who has recently been commissioned and joined as a non-graduate direct entrant.
The officer ranks of the Royal Air Force, as they are today, were introduced in 1919. Prior to that Army ranks were used.
The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Training Branch), often abbreviated to RAFVR(T), was a Volunteer Reserve element of the Royal Air Force specifically appointed in a cadet training role within the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Members of the RAFVR(T) had no call-up liability and often operated part-time with the Air Experience Flights and Volunteer Gliding Squadrons, which provide flight experience for the Royal Air Force Air Cadets.
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.
A Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS) is an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which provides flying training in glider aircraft for Royal Air Force Air Cadets. All current operational Volunteer Gliding Squadrons operate a sole type of aircraft, the Grob G103A Twin II Acro, a conventional winch-launched tandem-seat sailplane known by its British military designation, Viking T1.
A Royal Air Force University Air Squadron recruiting within Scotland, Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde Air Squadron draws its members from six higher education establishments within Glasgow and its surrounding areas.
No. 7644 (VR) Public Relations Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force is a unit of the British Royal Air Force. The VR designation indicates the unit's history as part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR). The squadron's role is to provide Media Operations support for RAF and NATO forces world-wide in times of peace and war. The unit is based at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire.
Southampton University Air Squadron is a unit of the Royal Air Force which provides basic flying training, adventurous training and personal development skills to undergraduate students of the University of Southampton, University of Portsmouth, Bournemouth University, Southampton Solent University, University of Chichester and University of Winchester. The aim of all University Air Squadrons is to allow those potential RAF officers to experience service life and to allow them to decide whether they are suited to it. There is no obligation to join up after being a member of a UAS unless an RAF bursary is successfully applied for. SUAS is parented by MoD Boscombe Down where it flies Tutor aircraft.
The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is responsible for all RAF recruiting along with officer and aircrew selection. Originally established as a naval aviation training centre during World War I, the College was established as the world's first air academy in 1919. During World War II, the College was closed and its facilities were used as a flying training school. Reopening after the War, the College absorbed the Royal Air Force Technical College in 1966.
No. 6 Air Experience Flight is an Air Experience Flight based at RAF Benson.
Air Commodore Cathcart Michael Wight-Boycott, was a British fighter pilot during the Second World War and a senior Royal Air Force officer during the post-war years. In 1961, Wight-Boycott became the 10th Commandant Royal Observer Corps.
The East of Scotland Universities Air Squadron, commonly known as ESUAS, is a squadron within the Royal Air Force established in 2003 as an amalgamation of "East Lowlands Universities Air Squadron" (ELUAS) and "Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews Universities Air Squadron" (ADStAUAS). It is based at Leuchars Station, in Fife and flies a fleet of six Grob Tutor aircraft. ESUAS is the parent Squadron of No. 12 Air Experience Flight RAF, who share the aircraft.
No. 1 Air Experience Flight is one of thirteen Air Experience Flights (AEFs) run by the Air Cadet Organisation of the Royal Air Force. The primary purpose of the AEF organisation is to provide air experience to members of the Air Training Corps, Combined Cadet Force (RAF) Section and occasionally, the Girls Venture Corps Air Cadets and the Air Scouts.
The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed in 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fifteen University Air Squadrons that are spread out across Great Britain and it recruits from the universities at Oxford and Reading University.
Liverpool University Air Squadron is a training unit of the Royal Air Force which provides basic flying training, adventurous training and personal development skills to undergraduate students of the University of Liverpool, University of Lancaster, Edge Hill University, Bangor University and Liverpool John Moores University.
The University of London Air Squadron, often abbreviated to ULAS, forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and provides a wide range of training for students of the University of London and affiliated universities.
Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron is a unit of the Royal Air Force which provides basic flying training, adventurous training and personal development skills to undergraduate students of the University of Durham, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumbria University, Sunderland University and Teesside University. The idea behind all University Air Squadrons is to allow potential RAF officers to experience life in service and to allow them to decide whether they are suited to it. There is no obligation to join up, unless a bursary is successfully applied for. NUAS is parented by RAF Leeming where it flies Grob Tutor aircraft. NUAS Town Headquarters (THQ) are in Newcastle upon Tyne.
At the end of the Cold War in 1989, the Royal Air Force (RAF) structure was as follows:
