Origins
The term "flying officer" was originally used in the Royal Flying Corps as a flying appointment for junior officers, not a rank.
On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army, with Royal Naval Air Service sub-lieutenants (entitled flight sub-lieutenants) and Royal Flying Corps lieutenants becoming lieutenants in the RAF. However, with the creation of the RAF's own rank structure on 1 August 1919, RAF lieutenants were re-titled flying officers, a rank which has been in continuous use ever since.
| Common anglophone military ranks | ||
|---|---|---|
| Navies | Armies | Air forces |
| Officers | ||
| Admiral of the fleet | Marshal / field marshal |
Marshal of the Air Force |
| Admiral | General | Air marshal |
| Commodore | Brigadier | Air commodore |
| Captain | Colonel | Group captain |
| Commander | Lieutenant colonel | Wing commander |
| Lieutenant commander |
Major / commandant |
Squadron leader |
| Lieutenant | Captain | Flight lieutenant |
| Sub-lieutenant | Lieutenant | Flying officer |
| Ensign | 2nd lieutenant | Pilot officer |
| Midshipman | Officer cadet | Officer cadet |
| Seamen, soldiers and airmen | ||
| Warrant officer | Sergeant major | Warrant officer |
| Petty officer | Sergeant | Sergeant |
| Leading seaman | Corporal | Corporal |
| Seaman | Private | Aircraftman |
Read more about this topic: Flying Officer
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)