Air commodore-in-chief
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. As of 2020[update], 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
[edit]Prince Edward, Prince of Wales
[edit]Prince Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor), held the following appointments:
United Kingdom
1932 –1936 : Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force[1]
King George VI
[edit]King George VI held the following appointments:
- United Kingdom
- 1936 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force (The Royal Auxiliary Air Force from 1947)[2][3]
1941 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps[3][4]- 1947 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force Regiment[5]
1950 – 1952: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Observer Corps[6]
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Queen Elizabeth II
[edit]Queen Elizabeth II held the following appointments:
Australia
1954 – 2022 : Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Australian Citizen Air Force[7]
Canada
1953 – 1968: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force Auxiliary[8]
New Zealand
1953 – 2022: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Territorial Air Force of New Zealand[9]
- United Kingdom
- 1953 – 2022: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force[10]
- 1953 – 2022: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force Regiment[10]
- 1953 – 1996: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Observer Corps[10]
Prince Philip
[edit]Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, held the following appointments:
- /
Canada
- /
1953 – 2021: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets[8]
- United Kingdom
- 1953 – 2015: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps
King Charles III
[edit]King Charles III, held the following appointments:
- New Zealand
- 1977 –2015: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Air Force[11][12]
- United Kingdom
- 2022 –present: Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force[13]
Royal Malaysian Air Force
[edit]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).[14]
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:[14][15]
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
[edit]- ^ "No. 33831". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1932. p. 3582.
- ^ The Air Force List, September 1943
- ^ a b "air commodore-in-chief | air force | king | 1950 | 1255 | Flight Archive". www.flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012.
- ^ "The Air Cadet Organisation Web Site". Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
- ^ "No. 38077". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 September 1947. p. 4469.
- ^ "No. 40140". The London Gazette. 11 April 1950. p. 2051.
- ^ "No. 40140". The London Gazette. 6 April 1954. p. 2051.
- ^ a b "No. 39864". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 May 1953. p. 2995.
- ^ "New Zealand Defence Force marks passing of Queen Elizabeth II". 9 September 2022.
- ^ a b c "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 May 1953. p. 2940.
- ^ "No. 47237". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 June 1977. p. 7127.
- ^ "Honorary Appointments to the New Zealand Defence Force". New Zealand Gazette. 6 August 2015.
- ^ "KING CHARLES III BECOMES AIR COMMODORE-IN-CHIEF OF THE RAF". raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ a b National Archives of Malaysia. "Sejarah Armada Negara" [History of the National Fleet]. pustakailmu.arkib.gov.my (in Malay).
- ^ Mohamed Ali, Ramlan (2022). Andrew, Ivan Mario (ed.). My Years in Service & After (1970–2022) ~Admiral Ramlan. Kuala Lumpur: RMN Sea Power Centre. ISBN 978-629-97523-1-8.