air commodore

Air Commodore is the fourth most senior rank active in the Royal Air Force today, after the deactivation of Marshal of the Royal Air Force as a substantive rank in peacetime during defence cuts of the 1990s. It ranks above Group Captain and immediately below Air Vice Marshal. 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. 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. The Air Commodore command flag is the only RAF Command Flag that is swallowtailed in shape. All others are rectangular or triangular in shape, thus making this command flag the easiest to identify (which wasn't the case when the command flags were first introduced: The original flag used by the Squadron Leader rank looked the most similar, hence the cutting out of the swallowtail on the Air Commodore flag and the adding of a depiction of an eagle to the Squadron Leader flag).

Air Commodore

See also