Senior commissioned rank which originated in the Royal Air Force
Group captain
(
Gp Capt
or
G/C
) is a
senior officer
rank used by some air forces, with origins from the
Royal Air Force
.
[1]
The rank is used by air forces of many
countries that have historical British influence
.
Group captain is immediately senior to
wing commander
and immediately below
air commodore
. It is usually equivalent to the rank of
captain
in the navy and of the rank of
colonel
in other services.
The equivalent rank in the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
,
Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force
,
Women's Royal Air Force
(until 1968) and
Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service
(until 1980) was "group officer".
Canada
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The rank was used in the
Royal Canadian Air Force
until the 1968
unification of the Canadian Forces
, when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian group captains then became
colonels
. In official
Canadian French
usage, the rank title was
colonel d'aviation
.
[2]
India
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]
United Kingdom
[
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]
History
[
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]
On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the
British Army
, with
Royal Naval Air Service
captains and
Royal Flying Corps
colonels becoming 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 group captain would have been "air captain". 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 naval officer ranks with differing pre-modifying terms. It was also suggested that RAF colonels might be entitled "bannerets" or "leaders". However, the rank title based on the Navy rank was preferred and as RAF colonels typically commanded
groups
the rank title group captain was chosen. The rank of group captain was introduced in August 1919
[3]
and has been used continuously since then.
Although in the early years of the RAF
groups
were normally commanded by group captains, by the mid-1920s they were usually commanded by an
air officer
.
In the post-World War II period the commander of an RAF flying
station
or a major ground training station has typically been a group captain. More recently,
expeditionary air wings
have also been commanded by group captains.
Insignia and command pennant
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]
The rank insignia is based on the four gold bands of captains in the Royal Navy, comprising four narrow light blue bands over slightly wider black bands. This is worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform. Group captains are the first rank in the RAF hierarchy to wear gold braid on the peak of their cap, informally known as '
scrambled egg
'; however, they still wear the standard RAF officer's cap badge.
The command pennant for a group captain is similar to the one for a wing commander except that there is one broad red band in the centre. Only the wing commander and group captain command pennants are triangular in shape.
-
An RAF group captain's sleeve/shoulder insignia
-
An RAF group captain's sleeve mess insignia
-
An RAF group captain's sleeve as it appears on the No. 1 dress
Gallery
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]
Notable group captains
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]
- Sir
Douglas Bader
CBE
,
DSO
&
Bar
,
DFC
&
Bar
,
DL
,
FRAeS
– World War II fighter pilot and double amputee
- Clive Robertson "Killer" Caldwell
DSO
,
DFC
&
Bar
, Cross of Valor (Poland) – Australia's highest-scoring fighter ace, also the highest-scoring P-40 pilot from any air force and the highest-scoring Allied pilot in North Africa. Became one of a small group of pilots throughout history to become an
"ace in a day"
.
- Leonard Cheshire
VC
– World War II bomber pilot and charity worker
- Walter Churchill
DSO
,
DFC
– World War II ace fighter pilot, who also evaluated various makes of fighter aircraft for the RAF, and played a key role in getting Spitfire aircraft to the
defence of Malta
- Hugh Dundas
– World War II fighter pilot and the youngest person to hold this rank, aged 24 years
[
citation needed
]
- Thomas Loel Guinness
– World War II fighter pilot, politician and businessman
- Hamish Mahaddie
DSO
,
DFC
,
AFC
&
Bar
,
FRAeS
– Scotsman who flew in
Bomber Command
and became a key member of the
Pathfinder Force
as chief procurer of aircrew talent, often referred to as
Don Bennett
's "horse thief"
- Sailor Malan
DSO
&
Bar
,
DFC
&
Bar
?
Royal Air Force
flying ace
who led
No. 74 Squadron RAF
during the
Battle of Britain
, authored the "Ten Simple Rules for Fighter Pilots" and under whose leadership
No. 74 Squadron RAF
changed outmoded RAF tactics and formations, changes later adopted by all of Fighter Command. In the 1969 cinema film
Battle of Britain
, the character of the
Squadron Leader” nicknamed Skipper played by
Robert Shaw
was based on Malan
- Herbert Massey
– as a POW was Senior British Officer (SBO) at Stalag Luft III. He was portrayed in the movie
The Great Escape
(1963) as Group Captain Ramsey, and played by
James Donald
. Massey was crippled and walked with a stick, as did his character in the movie
- Virendera Singh Pathania
,
VrC
,
VM
Indian Air force
fighter pilot reputed for making first confirmed kill in aerial
dogfight
during
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
.
- Percy Charles Pickard
DSO
&
Two Bars
,
DFC
– World War II bomber pilot and captain of "F for Freddie"
- Alan Rawlinson
OBE
,
DFC
&
Bar
,
AFC
, – Australian
RAAF
World War II
fighter ace
and later commissioned into RAF
[14]
- Stanisław Skar?y?ski
– World War II bomber pilot. Commanding Officer RAF Lindholme. Polish Air Force. Transatlantic World Record Holder. Awarded
Bleriot Medal
1936
- James Stagg
– RAF
meteorologist
involved in the planning of the
D-Day
invasion
- Clare Stevenson
Director
WAAAF
- Peter Townsend
– World War II pilot and suitor of
Princess Margaret
Honorary
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Fictional characters
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]
- Ian Gilmore, a fictional character in
Doctor Who
- Group Captain Tennant James, a fictional character in
Doctor Who
- Captain Jack Harkness
, a fictional character in
Doctor Who
and its spin-off
Torchwood
- Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, a fictional character in the film
Dr. Strangelove
, played by
Peter Sellers
- Group Captain Rodney Crittendon, a fictional character in the television show
Hogan's Heroes
, played by
Bernard Fox
(Crittendon was titled on the show as the equivalent rank of
colonel
to avoid confusion with the American audience.)
See also
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References
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]