Air Commodore

From Air Cadet Central Wiki

Air Commodore (Air Cdre) is a rank in the Royal Air Force. It ranks above Group Captain and immediately below Air Vice-Marshal, and also exists in some other Commonwealth air forces, including the Indian Air Force (IAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), and Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6, equivalent to a Commodore in the Royal Navy or a Brigadier in the British Army or the Royal Marines. Unlike these two ranks, however, it has always been a substantive rank.

On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army, with officers at what is now Air Commodore holding the rank of Brigadier-General. In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own rank titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use the Royal Navy's officer ranks, with the word "Air" inserted before the naval rank title. Although the Admiralty objected to this simple modification of their rank titles, it was agreed that the RAF might base many of its officer rank titles on Navy officer ranks with differing pre-modifying terms. It was also suggested that Air Officer ranks could be based on the term "Ardian", which was derived from a combination of the Gaelic words for "chief" (ard) and "bird" (eun), with the term "Flight Ardian" being used for the equivalent to Brigadier-General and Commodore. However, the rank title based on the Navy rank was preferred and Air Commodore was adopted on 1 August 1919.

Insignia

The rank insignia is a light blue band on a broad black band worn on the both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform.