Women's Royal Air Force

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The Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was a women's branch of the Royal Air Force which existed in two separate incarnations.

The first WRAF was an auxiliary organization of the Royal Air Force which was founded in 1918. The original intent of the WRAF was to provide female mechanics in order to free up men for service in World War I. However, the organization saw huge enrolment, with women volunteering for positions as drivers and mechanics and filling other wartime needs. This first WRAF was disbanded in 1920.

On 1 February 1949, the name was revived when the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, which had been founded in 1939, was renamed 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 military 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.

1 Ranks
2 List of Commandants WRAF
3 List of Directors WRAF
4 Notes

[edit] Ranks

Other Ranks held standard RAF ranks, but officers used a separate ranking systerm until 1968, when they too adopted RAF ranks.

WRAF rank	Equivalent RAF rank
Pilot Officer	Pilot Officer
Flying Officer	Flying Officer
Flight Officer	Flight Lieutenant
Squadron Officer	Squadron Leader
Wing Officer	Wing Commander
Group Officer	Group Captain
Air Commandant	Air Commodore
Air Chief Commandant^[1]	Air Vice-Marshal

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

[edit] List of Commandants WRAF

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

[edit] List of Directors WRAF

Air Commandant Dame Felicity Hanbury, 1949–1950
Air Commandant Dame Nancy Salmon, 1950–1956
Air Commandant Dame Henrietta Barnet, 1956–1959
Air Commandant Dame Anne Stephens, 1959–1962
Air Commandant Dame Jean Conan Doyle, 1962–1966
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–

[edit] Notes

^ An honorary rank held only by Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who held it as a rank (until 1968) and later an appointment throughout the WRAF's existence. On 1 April 1994 her title changed to Air Chief Commandant for Women, RAF, by which time she held the rank of Air Chief Marshal.