The Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force, or RAF as they are more usually known, are part of the British military forces along with other forces including the Army, Navy and Marines. The RAF's aim is to carry out objectives that are set by the Ministry of Defence in the interests of the UK and is lead by the Chief of the Air Staff, who has an Assistant Chief of the Air Staff working alongside him.

The RAF currently employers more than 40,000 actively serving personnel, though it does also have some reserve personnel. There is still one living founder of the RAF, Henry Allingham, who is 111 years of age.

raf

Officers in the RAF are ranked into three categories, Junior Officers, Senior Officers and Air Officers. An Officer is able to give an order to a subordinate member of personnel as they hold something called a commission for the sovereign. Officers to be complete an Initial Officer Training course lasting 32 weeks during which the commission is given to them. This course is held at the RAF college in Cranwell.

A large part of the history of the RAF has taken place in the years following World War II, and this has had a major impact on the shape of the RAF today. At the end of the war the RAF played a key part in helping to restore some sort of normality people. This meant bringing home those that had been fighting in the war (as well as prisoners of war), they also carried supplies such as food and medicine to those that were in dire need. Back in Britain they faced the task of demobilizing a very large force of approximately 1,000,000 people. This was soon back down to around 300,000.

Since the end of the war (1945) British forces have been in near constant operation in some part of the world, and it has been the Army that has probably been most heavily involved in actual combat action. The RAF has been using its forces with great selection to support these operations for the air, as needed.