Talk:Air Officer

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[edit] Brigadier Generals

In the US Army, one star officers hold the rank of Brigadier General. Although I don't know for a fact, it seems likely that they are classified as general officers by virtue of their rank title. If this is the case, the article needs a little re-wording. 88.105.133.209 22:51, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Quite right. Brigadier Generals are general officers, and one-star USN officers (Rear Admiral, lower half) are flag officers. I've changed the article to make it clear that treating one-star air-force officers differently from naval/military/marine ones is a British peculiarity (poss. shared by other Commonwealth countries — though not by Canada, which has a rank system more like the U.S.).

Why is anyone's guess: it may be because when the RAF was founded (1917, I think), the British Army still had brigadier-generals (who were general officers, albeit temporary ones) rather than brigadiers, and commodores in the Royal Navy were split into two classes, the higher of which were entitled to wear the uniform of a rear admiral (although they could still only fly a pennant rather than a flag — I think). — Franey 12:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)