![]() ![]() To emphasise the merger of both military and naval aviation in the new service, many of the titles of officers were deliberately chosen to be of a naval character, such as flight lieutenant, wing commander, group captain, and air commodore. The creation of the new force was based on the Smuts Report prepared by Field Marshal Jan Smuts for the Imperial War Cabinet on which he served. The decision to merge the two services and create an independent air force was a response to the events of World War I, the first war in which air power made a significant impact. ![]() The Royal Naval Air Service was its naval equivalent and was controlled by the Admiralty. The Royal Flying Corps had been born out of the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers and was under the control of the British Army. The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918 by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service and was controlled by the British Government Air Ministry which had been established three months earlier. While the British were not the first to make use of heavier-than-air military aircraft, the RAF is the world's oldest independent air force: the first air force to become independent of army or navy control. After the end of the Cold War, the RAF took part in several large scale operations, including the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.įormation and the inter-war years Formation Airco DH.9A R 27 airship 1918 During the war it was responsible for the aerial defence of Great Britain, the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and tactical support to the British Army around the world.ĭuring the Cold War, the main role of the RAF was the defence of the continent of Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, including holding the British nuclear deterrent for a number of years. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War. After the war, the RAF was greatly reduced in size and during the inter-war years was used for policing operations in the British Empire. The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918, towards the end of the First World War by merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. The history of the Royal Air Force, the air force of the United Kingdom, spans a century of British military aviation. ![]()
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