Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation

Development of the RAF Branch Structure

Apart from a few members of the RFC Special Reserve, virtually all officers in the pre-war flying services were seconded from the Army or Royal Navy (including the Royal Marines) but from late-1914 onwards increasing numbers were commissioned directly into the RFC and/or RNAS on short-term ‘for the duration’ engagements. The Army’s somewhat ‘tribal’ organisation involved a relatively complicated career structure but, in brief, in peacetime officers would normally ascend the promotion ladder in strict seniority governed by the numerical establishment of their regiment or corps, resulting in quite slow, but steady, progress. There was, however, some potential for leapfrogging the queue by acquiring ‘brevet’ rank, ie one (or more) higher than that to which one would normally have been entitled, often by serving on secondment away from one’s parent regiment. Wartime pragmatism (and casualty rates) demanded much higher rates of advancement in the field and thus far more extensive use of ‘brevet’ and/or ‘temporary’ ranks, involving further complexities as to whether these were paid or unpaid – thus by 1916 Trenchard (who would probably still have been a major of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in peacetime) was a brevet colonel (temporary major-general) in the RFC. As a result, officers serving with the RFC whose names appear in wartime Army Lists had two dates of seniority, one relating to the Army as a whole, the other to his regiment.  These were often only a few months apart for direct recruits, the first being the original date of commissioning and the second that of gazetting to the RFC, ie qualification as a pilot, although, for officers seconded from other regiments, the difference could be rather longer, often in excess of a year. 

To begin with, all RFC officers were pilots who were differentiated by their employment ‘grade’ (rather than their rank – although there was a close correlation between rank and grade) as Wing, Squadron or Flight Commanders or mere Flying Officers.  As the war progressed, however, the structure became more complex and by 1918 the RFC section of the Army List had, in addition to those dealing with pilots, pages dedicated to Staff, Observer, Balloon and Equipment Officers.  Individuals could migrate from one page to another; thus many Observer Officers became Flying Officers, ie pilots, while a grounded pilot could become an Equipment Officer.  

The RNAS was a much smaller organisation and commissioned membership was confined solely to those who were ‘graded’, i.e. pilots (and, from 1917, observers), all other officers working in support of the RNAS being provided by the RN and/or RNVR.  It is, incidentally, of some interest to note that, despite the de facto independence of the RNAS, the more conservative elements of the bureaucracy had ignored this reality and the Army and Navy Lists both continued to reflect the de jure situation whereby the RFC was still supposedly divided into Military and Naval Wings – raising interesting constitutional questions about the legal status of the RNAS.   

When the RAF was created in 1918 it organised itself on broadly RFC lines by adapting the Army’s arrangements to create a ‘branch’ structure, officers retaining the ability to switch branches as their styles of employment changed.  The branches reflected by the early Air Force Lists were:-

One of Trenchard’s earliest post-war decisions was that all officers in the peacetime RAF were to be pilots, with the exception of those carrying out certain specialised tasks, the latter being enrolled within the Accounts, Stores (from 1936, Equipment), Medical, Dental, Chaplains and Legal Branches. All other officers, were commissioned into the General Duties Branch, which was responsible for carrying out all basic air force functions, that is to say, the conduct and supervision of all aspects of flying and engineering, including armament, wireless and photography, and carrying out all staff and administrative duties. The GD Branch was also responsible for providing the commanders of all operational units, which implied that only those officers who served in it were eligible for promotion to the highest ranks of the new Service. In contrast, the rank ceiling available to officers of the specialist branches was limited to that of the Head of each Branch.  (with thanks to Wg Cdr C G Jefford for assistance in re-writing the above section)

Very little change to this basic structure occurred until the rapid expansion of the 1930's, which necessitated a vast increase in the overall officer requirement of the service. 

"Although the necessity for a technical branch to meet the requirements of the rapidly growing complexity of modern aircraft had been apparent for many years, it was not until the early months of 1939 that the Air Council approved proposals for the direct entry of engineers from industry and the universities and agreed to the creation of a Technical Branch of the Service. An announcement to this effect was made in the Press on 1 August 1939.  Hitherto the policy for the provision of officers for technical duties in the Royal Air Force had been that they should be general duties branch officers trained as pilots before being trained as specialists; should be employed alternatively in specialist and in non-specialist posts and should be eligible equally with non-specialists to rise to the highest appointments in the Royal Air Force.  This policy had originally been laid down by Lord Trenchard.  It had been modified by the introduction of commissioned warrant officers, mainly for employment on station and maintenance unit duties, who had gained their technical knowledge and skill in the ranks.  This class filled most of the junior posts and would fill a small proportion of the squadron leader posts.

On 26 March 1940 the Air Member for Personnel submitted a Memorandum which embodied a scheme for applying in war the policy which had been approved in peace for forming a technical branch for permanent officers.  The branch was to be made up from existing permanent specialist GD officers, from those officers granted GD commissions immediately before the war for specialist duties only, from existing commissioned engineer officers and signals and armament officers, and in the future from airmen commissioned for engineer duties.  The Council approved these proposals."*

The GD Branch  also began to change from 1939, when the decision was taken to make Air Gunners official members of aircrew.  Up to then ground staff had been employed as air gunners and given extra pay for undertaking these duties but on returning from flying duties they had had to return to their ground trades.  The majority of the new air gunners were appointed to the rank of sergeant but some were commissioned to act as gunnery leaders and by the end of WW2, some air gunners had actually risen to command squadrons.   The other addition to the GD Branch was that of Air Observers, who were needed in the new multi crew aircraft to relieve the pilots of the additional tasks of navigation and bomb aiming.  The increased administrative demands of the enlarged RAF was satisfied by the recruitment/appointment of retired officers, academics, qualified administrators and the like who were commissioned into another new branch, named Administrative and Special Duties Branch (ASD), again with a number of specialised sub-divisions, the first appointments to this Branch appearing to have been in August 1939. 

*Chapter 1, AP3397 (1954)  

Therefore by August 1940 the Branch structure had expanded to:-  

Further changes continued throughout WW2 with sub-divisions being added to GD and Technical Branches whilst the Administrative and Special Duties Branch was restructured and a further new branch was added with the formation of the RAF Regiment in 1942.  Therefore by October 1945 the Branch structure had been refined into:-

As the post war run down of the RAF continued, further changes took place, these mainly involved the gradual abolition of the Administrative and Special Duties Branches (which appears to have been split into a number of new Branches in about 1947) and the Balloon Branch.  One point which had become apparent during the war was that pilots and other aircrew officers were needed to fill the vast number of operational and staff posts on squadrons, stations, Group and Command HQ's and the Air Ministry.  This had left none spare to carry out the various technical and administrative duties carried out by GD officers pre 1939, hence the formation of the wide range of specialised branches.  It became obvious there were a large number of roles requiring commissioned officers which could be fulfilled by those without experience as pilots or aircrew.

The remaining branches underwent further rationalisation and in many cases where retitled.

By 1980, the branch structure had become:-

From 1986 those branches marked (*) were grouped together as the Policy Branches and Air Officers in those branches were shown in the same section of the gradation lists in the Air Force Lists.  Officers of Group Captain and below were still grouped in the Air Force Lists in blocks according to branch.  Air Officers of the remaining branches were shown in the same blocks as the remainder of their branch.

By 1996, further rationalisation had resulted in the following:-

The first major change in the branch structure for a number of years occurred on 1 April 1997, with the formation of Operations Support branch.  This  branch brought together four of the existing branch specialisations and added a new one, these being:-

The Flight Operations sub-branch was designed to utilise specially trained officers in operations posts and in headquarters previously filled by aircrew officers on ground tours.  Most of these officers would be ex-aircrew thereby removing them from the General Duties list and freeing posts at the higher levels giving opportunities of advancement to junior officers not previously available.  Another major advantage is that officers in the new sub-branch will be able to utilise their experience but without receiving flying pay.  

In 2022 a further restructuring was announced in which Branches (Officers) and Trade Groups (Airmen/women) would be amalgamated into a number of Professions, a process to be completed by 2025.

This page was last updated on 31/12/22^©

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