RAF Organization help

Hi Opts

I'm glad you've actually had a look and tried yourself to research rather than most people just ask the questions straight off! So you've done one thing right already.

Have a quick look at Number 2 Group again, its not just ISTAR (which they now call ISR). The most simple way to look at the groups, are the Number 1 Group are the 'teeth' arms of the RAF and Number 2 Group includes everything that supports the operations of Number 1 Group other than any training units which you rightly said come under Number 22 training group.

Have a look here:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/rafgroups.cfm
http://www.rafweb.org/Org-index.htm

See if you can figure out how wings and squadrons are set up. A huge part of the selection process is researching the information and learning about the RAF yourself.

Don't get too bogged down into it for interview prep but its good for your personal knowledge to know how the RAF works.

Have a look here; http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/ExpeditionaryAirForce.cfm
For EAW's if you read what each of the EAW's does, and who is deployed within each one you'll get a good understanding of what they are/contain.

Though no doubt i'll write this post and someone will have already given you the answers haha!

Chris

You forgot RAF Stations in that first post. Flights are the smallest unit of troops (unless you are RAF Regiment, but let's not go there right now). A Flight has a Flight Commander. They usually work as part of a Squadron, commanded by a Squadron Commander (who is a Squadron Leader, unless it is an aircraft squadron, then they are Wing Commanders to confuse things). The Squadrons work within a Wing, with a Wing Commander at the head. They all usually work for a Station Commander, who is usually a Group Captain, unless the Station is too small, or is too large (Brize Norton for example). Stations work to a Group.

That probably didn't help much!

Thanks, yes I've been pretty proactive on the research front - mostly from the RAF site (which still lists 2 group as ISTAR!) Thanks for your reply, hoping to start application to be an ABM in a couple of weeks!



Thank you very much!

Opts, just use the RAF website for your research, its hopelessly flawed as Schleigg says, but if that's what they're putting out in the public domain with the corporate RAF logo, you, as a poor member of the public, have to assume it's gospel.

The truth is, the Corporate Comms people can't keep up with all the changes (downsizing) in organisations, stations, aircraft and jobs. That's not your fault mate! Just spout what the website tells you - it's their problem if the information is incorrect.

It all went Pete Tong in the 90s when the MoD were trying to realise a 'Peace Dividend' at the end of the Cold War. Big draw down and restructuring followed. In my little corner of the RAF (Nimrods) we were part of 18 Group, formerly Coastal Command. A long standing (58 years) and historical association that everyone in the relevant Sqns were proud to be a member of. In 1996 it was changed to 11/18 Gp and in the next 10 years morphed into 3 Gp and then 2 Gp. The pride of belonging to 18 Gp did not transfer to any of those incarnations and when I retired a couple of years ago, you'd have been hard pushed to find anyone who actually knew or cared what Group they were supposed to belong to. Same with the EAWs which were effectively a modern 'management' instrument to try and gel disparate units and functions into a single coherent expeditionary entity. By having an EAW shoulder flash on your combats, you were supposed to feel a strong identity with other members of the EAW. I can't answer for current serving chaps, but I felt absolutely no affinity with 325EAW and had little or no understanding or what it was actually supposed to be or indeed why I should feel good about being a member of it rather than any other EAW. I did however have a very strong connection with all of my Sqns, and shed a tear when I participated in a ceremony to hand over my last Squadron standard to the care of the RAF College Cranwell. Now that was a sad day. It's a ceremony that the RAF Regt at Cranwell have become very familiar with in the last few years.

Anyway, Opts, best you don't get contaminated by my cynicism. There's no problem with the organisation and it's a highly effective structure!

Ikky

That's politics though ha. Amalgamate something effective and identifiable, re-brand it and label it as more cohesive. Boom.