Wing Commander (
Wg Cdr in the
RAF and the
IAF,
WGCDR in the
RNZAF and
RAAF,
W/C in the former
RCAF) is a
commissioned
rank in the
Royal Air Force and the air forces of many
other
Commonwealth
countries. It ranks above
Squadron
Leader and immediately below
Group
Captain. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is
never shortened to "Commander".
It has a
NATO
ranking code of OF-4, and is equivalent to a
Commander in the Royal Navy or a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army or the Royal Marines. A Wing Commander is
usually the rank of the Officer Commanding of an RAF Flying
Squadron.
The equivalent rank in the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(WAAF),
Women's Royal Air
Force (WRAF) (until 1968) and
Princess Mary's
Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) (until 1980) was
Wing Officer. The equivalent rank in the
Royal Observer Corps (until 1995) was
Observer Commander which had a similar rank
insignia.
Origins
On
1 April
1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer
rank titles from the
British Army, with
Royal Naval Air Service
Commanders (titled as Wing Commanders) and
Royal Flying Corps Lieutenant-Colonels
becoming Lieutenant-Colonels in the RAF. 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. For example, the rank that later became Wing
Commander would have been Air Commander. 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 RAF Lieutenant
Colonels might be titled as
Reeves
or Wing-Leaders. However, the rank title Wing Commander was chosen
as
Wings were typically
commanded by RAF Lieutenant-Colonels and the term Wing Commander
had been used in the Royal Naval Air Service. The rank of Wing
Commander has been used continuously since
1
August 1919.
Usage
In the early years of the RAF, a Wing Commander commanded a flying
wing, typically a group of
three or four aircraft
squadrons. Nowadays
a Wing Commander is more likely to command a single flying squadron
or a wing which is an administrative sub-division of a
station.
Insignia and command flag
The rank
insignia is based on the three
gold bands of Commanders in the Royal Navy and consists of three
narrow light blue bands over slightly wider black bands. This is
worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulder of
the
flying suit or the casual
uniform.
The
command pennant used by a Wing
Commander is one of two triangular command pennants used in the
RAF. Two thin red lines differentiate this one from the
other.
During 1941-45
Fighter Command's
Wing leaders (of Wing Commander rank) were also allowed to use
their own initials as aircraft identification letters on their
personal aircraft, e.g., Wing Commander
Roland Beamont's personal
Hawker Tempest,
JN751, was coded
"R-B".
File:UK-Air-OF4.svg|An RAF wing commander's sleeve/shoulder
insigniaFile:File-UK-Air-OF4-mess-insignia.svg|An RAF wing
commander's sleeve mess insigniaImage:UK-Air-OF4-Flag.svg|An RAF
wing commander's command pennant
Other air forces
The rank of Wing Commander is also used in a number of the air
forces in the
Commonwealth,
including the
Bangladesh Air
Force,
Ghana Air Force,
Nigerian Air Force,
Indian Air Force,
Pakistan Air Force,
Royal Australian Air Force,
Royal New Zealand Air
Force and the
Sri Lankan Air
Force. It is also used in the
Egyptian Air Force,
Hellenic Air Force,
Royal Air Force of Oman and the
Royal Thai Air Force.
Image:RAAF O5 rank.png|An
RAAF wing commander's
sleeve/shoulder insigniaImage:Hellenic Air Force OF-4.svg|A
Hellenic Air Force
Antisminarchos (wing commander's) rank
insigniaImage:Wing Commander of IAF.png|A Indian Air Force wing
commander's rank insigniaImage:Thai air O4.png|A
RTAF wing commander's rank
insignia
Canadian Air Force
The
Royal Canadian Air
Force (RCAF) used the rank until the unification of the
Canadian Forces (CF) in 1968, when
Army-type rank titles were adopted. A Canadian Wing Commander then
became a
Lieutenant-Colonel. In
official French Canadian usage, a wing commander's rank title was
lieutenant-colonel d'aviation.
In the 1990s, the
Canadian
Forces Air Command (the post-1968 RCAF) altered the structure
of those
bases under its
control, redesignating them as
wings. The commander of such an
establishment was re-designated as the
Wing Commander (or
Wg Comd). Like the United States Air Force usage, the term
"wing commander" (as used in the modern Canadian Forces) is an
appointment, not a rank.
United States Air Force
In the
United States Air
Force (USAF) wing commander is a duty title, not a rank. The
equivalent USAF rank is
Lieutenant
Colonel who typically has command of a
squadron. Because USAF
wings are larger formations than RAF
wings, the commander of a wing must hold at least the rank of
Colonel, and is typically a
Colonel or a
Brigadier
General. The one exception to this is the commander of the
59th Medical Wing (
Wilford Hall Medical Center) who
is customarily a
Major General.
Notable wing commanders
- Guy Gibson, Commanding Officer of 617
Squadron and leader of the "Dam Busters" raid.
- Roland Beamont, Second World War
fighter pilot and post-war test pilot.
- Andy Green, Current holder of the
Land Speed Record and first person
to break the sound barrier on land.
- Roald Dahl, WW2 fighter pilot, and
famous novelist. His record of five aerial victories has been
confirmed by post-war research and cross-referenced in Axis
records.
- Paddy Finucane, top ranking RAF
World War 2 ace with 32 kills. A native of Dublin, Ireland, he is
the youngest Wing Commander in the history of the RAF. He was
promoted to the rank in 1942 at age 21 and was shot down and killed
shortly thereafter.
- Humphrey de Verd Leigh,
inventor of the Leigh light which was
developed to spotlight U-boats as they surfaced at night. The Leigh
light is reputed to have changed the course of the Battle of the
Atlantic in WWII.
- Douglas Bader, WW2 Fighter Pilot
and Amputee Advocate, was the first commander to lead formations of
3 or more Squadrons during the Battle of Britain.
- Roly Falk, Test Pilot on the maiden
flight of the Avro Vulcan.
See also
References
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