Women's Royal Air Force

Women's Royal Air Force
25 July 1919: King's Open Court, Buckingham Palace tribute to WW I Workers. – shown: members of the Women's Royal Air Force.
Active	1918–1920 1949–1994
Allegiance	Vereinigtes Königreich
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Support services
Size	Peak of ~25,000 (1918–1920)
Garrison/HQ	RAF Hawkinge
Commanders
Last Director WRAF	Air Commodore Ruth Montague
Air Chief Commandant	Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

"WRAF" redirects here. For the radio stations, see WRAF (FM) and WRAF (AM).

The Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was the women's branch of the Royal Air Force. It existed in two separate incarnations: the Women's Royal Air Force from 1918 to 1920 and the Women's Royal Air Force from 1949 to 1994.

On 1 February 1949, the name of the First World War organisation was revived when the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, which had been founded in 1939, was re-established on a regular footing as the Women's Royal Air Force. The WRAF and the RAF grew closer over the following decades, with increasing numbers of trades opened to women, and the two services formally merged in 1994, marking the full assimilation of women into the British forces and the end of the Women's Royal Air Force.

The Central Band of the WRAF, one of only two all-female bands in the British Armed Forces, was disbanded in 1972. Some of its musicians transferred to the Band of the Women's Royal Army Corps.

A fitter of the Women's Royal Air Force working on the Liberty engine of a De Havilland Airco DH.9A.

Strength

The Best Cadet receives her certificate from Air Marshal Sir Arthur Sanders and Air Commandant Dame Felicity Hanbury, the first Director of the Women's Royal Air Force, at RAF Hawkinge.

The target strength had been a force of around 90,000, figures are unreliable until 1 August 1918, when the strength was 15,433, approximately 5,000 recruits and 10,000 transferred from the predecessor organisations. The first incarnation never exceeded 25,000.

Depots

Depots were opened in 1918 at Handsworth College, in Glasgow, at RAF Flowerdown, RAF Spitalgate, near Grantham, and at York. In the 1950s the WRAF Depot and WRAF Officer Cadet Training Unit were opened at RAF Hawkinge in Kent.

Ranks

The WRAF inherited its rank structure from its predecessor, the WAAF. As with WAAF practice (from 1940), other ranks held standard RAF ranks, but officers used a separate ranking system until 1968, when they too adopted RAF officer ranks.

NATO code	OF-10		OF-9		OF-8		OF-7		OF-6		OF-5		OF-4		OF-3		OF-2		OF-1
Women's Royal Air Force (1949–1968)
							Air Chief Commandant		Air Commandant		Group Officer		Wing Officer		Squadron Officer		Flight Officer		Section Officer			Assistant Section Officer
Royal Air Force
	Marshal of the RAF		Air chief marshal		Air marshal		Air vice-marshal		Air commodore		Group captain		Wing commander		Squadron leader		Flight lieutenant		Flying officer			Pilot officer /acting pilot officer

Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, GBE, WRAF Commandant 1918–1920.

These ranks were introduced in 1949. The First World War service used different ranks.

List of Commandants WRAF

• Gertrude Crawford, 1918
• Violet Douglas-Pennant, May–September 1918
• Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, September 1918 – 1920

List of Directors WRAF

• Air Commandant Dame Felicity Hanbury, 1949–1950
• Air Commandant Dame Nancy Salmon, 1950–1956
• Air Commandant Dame Henrietta Barnett, 1956–1960
• Air Commandant Dame Anne Stephens, 1960–1963
• Air Commandant Dame Jean Conan Doyle, 1963–1966
• Air Commodore Dame Felicity Hill, 1966–1969
• Air Commodore Philippa Marshall, 1969–1973
• Air Commodore Molly Allott, 1973–1976
• Air Commodore Joy Tamblin, 1976–1980
• Air Commodore Helen Renton, 1980–1986
• Air Commodore Shirley Jones, 1986–1989
• Air Commodore Ruth Montague, 1989–1994

See also

• Air Transport Auxiliary
• Patricia Howard
• Women Airforce Service Pilots, US equivalent
• Women's Royal Army Corps
• Women's Royal Naval Service

Further reading

• BE Escott, Women in Air Force Blue: the story of women in the Royal Air Force from 1918 to the present day - 1989 - Stephens
• KB Beauman, Partners in Blue: The Story of Women's Service with the Royal Air Force - 1971 - Hutchinson Radius