Royal Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History
... Air Force . Formed in 1918 by combining the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Air Service. See the Public Record Office Records Information leaflet no. 13, ‘Air Records as Sources for Biography and Family...
Air Force, Royal Quick reference
World Encyclopedia
... Force, Royal ( RAF ) Youngest of the British armed services, formed in 1918 by the amalgamation of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. It was controlled by the Air Ministry from 1919–64 , when it was merged into the Ministry of Defence. Total personnel ( 1998 ):...
Royal Air Force Quick reference
The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History (2 ed.)
... Air Force ( RAF ) Formed in 1918 by combining the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Air Service. See William Spencer , Air Force Records for Family Historians (2000). The only complete muster list is that compiled on 1 April 1918 when the RAF was formed; it is kept in The National Archives (TNA) in AIR 1 and 10. Air Force Lists have been published regularly since then; a complete set is available at TNA at Kew. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/researchguidesindex.asp TNA research guide. http://www.rfc-rnas-raf-register.org.uk ...
Royal Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military
... Air Force RAF the air forces of the United Kingdom. The successor to the Royal Flying Corps, the RAF was created in 1918 and played a major role in the defense of Britain and the defeat of the Axis Powers in World War II . Perhaps its best known element was Fighter Command, which successfully defended against the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain in the summer and fall of 1940...
Royal Air Force Reference library
J. A. Cannon and Robert Crowcroft
The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)
... Air Force . The RAF was formed in April 1918 when the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to improve co-ordination. The new service was given its own minister and its own ranks: the other two services were amused at airmen who did not fly and at the plethora of marshals. After the armistice the new force was drastically reduced, falling to fewer than 50 aircraft in 1922 for home defence. Defended by Lord Trenchard , it struggled for its independent existence against the army and navy. Even so, the RNAS was...
Royal Air Force Quick reference
A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
... Air Force ( RAF ). The RAF was formed in April 1918 when the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to improve co‐ordination. After the armistice the new force was drastically reduced, falling to less than 50 aircraft in 1922 for home defence. It also struggled for its independent existence against the army and navy, defended by Lord Trenchard . Even so, the RNAS was resurrected in 1924 as the Fleet Air Arm, jointly administered until 1937 when it was handed over to the navy. A cadet college was opened at Cranwell...
Royal Australian Air Force Quick reference
Kenneth Morgan
Dictionary Plus Society and Culture
...Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) The Royal Australian Air Force was formed in 1921 as the aerial warfare branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF’s activities include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, air superiority, precision strikes, and humanitarian support. The RAAF has served in most of the twentieth-century’s major conflicts between World War II and recent military intervention against the Islamic State (ISIL). Kenneth...
Royal Australian Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian History
... Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) began in 1921 as the Australian Air Force. An earlier air force had served in World War I as the Australian Flying Corps. Using British aircraft the RAAF operated from two airbases, built near Sydney and Melbourne. Increased personnel and equipment in the 1930s provided an expanded but inadequate force by the outbreak of war in 1939 . Additional airbases were also opened in WA, NT, and Qld. The RAAF expanded dramatically during World War II, particularly during the war in the Pacific. It subsequently served in East and...
Royal Canadian Air Force Reference library
Brereton Greenhous
The Oxford Companion to Canadian History
...government to increase appropriations from 1935 on, and the air arm, which became an independent service with its own chief of air staff in 1938 , was the primary beneficiary. On the eve of the Second World War, in August 1939 , the rcaf numbered 8 Permanent Force and 12 Auxiliary squadrons, with 8 Hawker Hurricanes its only battle-worthy aircraft. That soon changed. Of the 250,000 men and women who served in the wartime rcaf , 94,000 served overseas, 60 per cent of them with Royal Air Force units. The rcaf reached its maximum strength at the end of ...
Royal Australian Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
... Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) Established on 31 March 1921 , the Australian Air Force (‘Royal’ from 13 August that year) was the successor of the Australian Air Corps and took over the aircraft and equipment, the Point Cook base and many of the personnel of that organisation. It owed its origins as an independent third service to the inability of the Army and the RAN to agree on the division of funds made available by government in 1918–19 for the establishment of a separate aviation corps under their respective direct control. This led to a decision...
Royal Australian Air Force Reserves And Citizen Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
... Australian Air Force Reserves And Citizen Air Force As constituted when it formed in 1921 , the RAAF consisted of two branches: the Permanent Air Force ( PAF ) and the Citizen Air Force ( CAF ). However it was only on 19 June 1925 that the latter actually came into existence, with the appointment of 11 officers to the CAF General Duties Branch. It became operational with the re-formation of No. 1 and No. 3 Squadrons at Point Cook , Victoria in 1925 , flying Avro 504K trainers, DH9/9As and SE5As ( see Imperial Gift aircraft ). Most of the aircrew,...
Royal New Zealand Air Force Quick reference
Rebecca Lenihan
Dictionary Plus History
... New Zealand Air Force One part of the New Zealand Defence Force, along with the Royal New Zealand Navy and the New Zealand Army, the air force was initially part of the army and has its origins in 1913 with the gift of Britannia , a Blériot XI monoplane, given to New Zealand by the United-Kingdom-based Imperial Air Fleet Committee. The New Zealand Permanent Air Force was established in 1923 , renamed the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1934 and separated from the army in 1937 . During World War II, New Zealand made bombers obtained in Britain...
Royal Australian Air Force Association Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
... Australian Air Force Association was formed as the Australian Flying Corps Association in 1920 . During the Second World War it was decided to broaden the membership to include officers and men who had served in any branch of the British Commonwealth's air forces at war and to adopt the organisation's current name. Its principal aims are to promote the spirit of comradeship, the development of air defence and the welfare of the association's members. To these ends it has been involved in establishing welfare facilities for airmen and in lobbying the...
Royal Air Force, Australians Prominent In Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
... Air Force, Australians Prominent In When the Royal Air Force was formed in the last year of the First World War ( 1 April 1918 ), it absorbed a number of Australian-born officers from the Royal Flying Corps or Royal Naval Air Service who subsequently rose to senior rank in the new service. Among these were Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore ( 1885–1970 ) and his first cousin Air Chief Marshal Sir Douglas Evill ( 1892–1971 ). Both born in New South Wales, they had made their way in the Royal Navy from 1900 and 1905 respectively. Another whose...
Women's Royal Australian Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
...Royal Australian Air Force ( WRAAF ) was formed after cabinet approval was given to the re-formation of all three women's Services in July 1950 . Unlike its wartime predecessor, it was no longer to be regarded as an auxiliary service, and this was reflected in its title; the ‘Royal’ prefix was granted in November 1950 . Limited initially to an establishment of 30 officers and 832 other ranks, more than 2000 women applied to enlist. The first recruit courses commenced at Laverton, Victoria, and Richmond, New South Wales, in January 1951 . Training for...
Royal Australian Air Force Academy Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
... Australian Air Force Academy opened in 1961 when the RAAF College at Point Cook became an affiliated college of the University of Melbourne. Point Cook was recognised as the birthplace of military flying in Australia, and it was appropriate that it be the site of the RAAF's main educational and training institution. The Central Flying School, Werribee, was established at Point Cook in February 1914 , and Point Cook became the assembly point for Australian Flying Corps units proceeding overseas. Cadet training for the new RAAF began at Point Cook in ...
Aircraft, Royal Australian Air Force Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
...Royal Australian Air Force When the RAAF was formed in 1921 a numbering system was introduced whereby each aircraft type was assigned an ‘A’ prefix followed by a number. The first series of aircraft were all biplanes, and were numbered A1 to A12. A new sequence of aircraft, numbered A1 to A100, began in 1935 with the Hawker Demon. A third series was introduced in 1961 with the Bell Sioux helicopter. Many of the aircraft used for transport and communication during the Second World War were civilian aircraft impressed (taken into military use) by...
Newall, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Cyril (1886–1963) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to World War II
...Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Cyril ( 1886–1963 ), British airman who, as an air chief marshal, served from 1937 to September 1940 , as chief of the Air Staff and on the Chiefs of Staff committee . He supported the government's decision not to bomb Germany during the phoney war , as he saw no point in provoking retaliation before the RAF could fight on equal terms. He presided over the development of Fighter Command which, under Dowding , was to win the battle of Britain , having opposed its expansion in 1939 at the expense of Bomber Command....
Portal, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles (1893–1971) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to World War II
...of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles ( 1893–1971 ), British airman, known to all his friends as Peter, who, as a member of the British Chiefs of Staff and Combined Chiefs of Staff committees , was one of the principal architects of the Allies' victory in Europe. A dispatch rider at the start of the First World War , Portal was soon commissioned and then seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in which he served with distinction. He was commissioned into the newly formed RAF and by 1939 was the air council member in charge of personnel with the rank of air...
