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Air commodore-in-chief

Honorary rank in some Commonwealth realms

Summary

Honorary rank in some Commonwealth realms

Air Commodore-in-Chief is a senior honorary air force appointment which originated in the Royal Air Force and now exists in the air forces of various Commonwealth realms. Appointees are made Air Commodore-in-Chief of a large air force organisation or formation. Initially only the British monarch held air commodore-in-chief appointments. However, since the second half of the 20th century, other members of the royal family have been appointed to such positions in the United Kingdom and the other realms such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. , these appointments have been given to just six senior members of the royal family, of whom four were reigning or future monarchs of the Commonwealth realms.

Air commodore-in-chief appointments do not confer a rank, be it air commodore or otherwise. Air commodore-in-chief appointments are more senior than honorary air commodore appointments. The equivalent naval title of Commodore-in-Chief was introduced in 2006.

Air commodores-in-chief

Prince Edward, Prince of Wales

Prince Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor), held the following appointments: ;UK United Kingdom

  • UK 1932 –1936 : Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force

King George VI

King George VI held the following appointments: ;UK United Kingdom

  • UK 1936 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force (The Royal Auxiliary Air Force from 1947)
  • [[File:Ensign of the Air Training Corps.svg|border|22x20px]] 1941 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps
  • UK 1947 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force Regiment
  • [[File:Ensign of the Royal Observer Corps (1952-1995).png|border|22x20px]] 1950 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Observer Corps

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II held the following appointments: ;AUS Australia

  • AUS 1954 – 2022 : Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Australian Citizen Air Force

;CAN Canada

  • CAN 1953 – 1968: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force Auxiliary

;NZ New Zealand

  • NZ 1953 – 2022: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Territorial Air Force of New Zealand

;UK United Kingdom

  • UK 1953 – 2022: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force
  • UK 1953 – 2022: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force Regiment
  • [[File:Ensign of the Royal Observer Corps (1952-1995).png|border|22x20px]] 1953 – 1996: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Observer Corps

Prince Philip

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, held the following appointments:

;CAN / CAN Canada

  • CAN / CAN 1953 – 2021: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets

;UK United Kingdom

  • [[File:Ensign of the Air Training Corps.svg|border|22x20px]] 1953 – 2015: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps

King Charles III

King Charles III, held the following appointments: ;NZ New Zealand

  • NZ 1977 –2015: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Air Force ;United Kingdom United Kingdom
  • United Kingdom 2022 –present: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force

Royal Malaysian Air Force

As a member of the Commonwealth, Malaysia adopted British military customs and traditions. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) was formally established in 1958; however, its lineage can be traced to earlier joint air force units of the Commonwealth in British Malaya. The most notable of these was the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force, formed in 1934, which consisted of personnel drawn from both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

There is no definitive record identifying the Air Commodore-in-Chief of pre-independence Malaya, although it is generally assumed that the British monarch held the honorary position. The appointment was reintroduced in 1966, when the Malay monarch was installed as Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The holders of this honorary appointment are as follows:

  • Air Force Ensign of Malaysia.svg Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force
    • Sultan Salahuddin of Selangor (1966–1984), later appointed as the Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy starting 1984
    • Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (1984–2019)
    • Sultan Abdullah of Pahang (2019–present)

References

References

  1. {{London Gazette. (31 May 1932)
  2. [https://archive.org/details/airforcelistsep1943grea The Air Force List, September 1943]
  3. "air commodore-in-chief {{!}} air force {{!}} king {{!}} 1950 {{!}} 1255 {{!}} Flight Archive".
  4. "The Air Cadet Organisation Web Site".
  5. {{London Gazette. (19 September 1947)
  6. {{London Gazette. (11 April 1950)
  7. {{London Gazette. (6 April 1954)
  8. {{London Gazette. (26 May 1953)
  9. (9 September 2022). "New Zealand Defence Force marks passing of Queen Elizabeth II".
  10. {{London Gazette. (26 May 1953)
  11. {{London Gazette. (10 June 1977)
  12. (6 August 2015). "Honorary Appointments to the New Zealand Defence Force". [[New Zealand Gazette]].
  13. "KING CHARLES III BECOMES AIR COMMODORE-IN-CHIEF OF THE RAF".
  14. National Archives of Malaysia. "Sejarah Armada Negara".
  15. Mohamed Ali, Ramlan. (2022). "My Years in Service & After (1970–2022) ~Admiral Ramlan". RMN Sea Power Centre.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

military-ranks-of-the-royal-air-force honorary-military-appointments monarchy-of-the-united-kingdom monarchy-of-canada monarchy-of-australia monarchy-of-new-zealand
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