home > news > Member's News

Share|

News Release - Aug 15, 2011

REINSTATEMENT OF ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE

It is with great pleasure I tell you today that the historical designation &8220;Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)” is once again the official name for Canada’s air force, replacing the designation air command.

The minister of national defence is expected to make the announcement tomorrow in Halifax. The names Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Canadian Army (CA) are also being reintroduced for maritime command and land force command, respectively

Please join me in celebration of this historic event, which recognizes and honours our military history and heritage, and pays tribute to those who have gone before us. Once the announcement is made, you can proudly say you are a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The historic names of the three services are those under which Canadians fought and died during the second world war and the Korean conflict, contributed to the defence of Europe and North America during the early days of the cold war, and paved the way in international peacekeeping missions. They also continue to be the commemorative names by which most Canadians, and indeed many of our service personnel, identify with the three services

Our air force first became the Royal Canadian Air Force on 1 April 1924, which we still celebrate as our official anniversary. With the unification of the forces in 1968, the navy became maritime command and the army became mobile command (later land force command). However, functional control of air assets was allocated to various organizations until the establishment of air command in 1975, which again brought cf air assets under a single command structure

It is important to note that this does not represent a divergence from the unification of our Canadian forces. We continue to be a tri-service, unified force with no change to our organization

All current air command orders (acos), directives, rules, instructions or similar instruments remain in full force and effect until amended to reflect the name change of the command. All references to aircom shall be read as reading Royal Canadian Air Force effective upon receipt of this message

The reintroduction of the rcaf as our official name will be carried out in a phased approach, and will have no impact on our capabilities, rank structures or rank insignia, command relations, organization or operations. over the coming months, we will, however, make necessary changes to documentation and staff titles, as well as branding and websites, and adjust the current insignia, motto and colours (which were specifically designed for air command)

As we move forward, I will keep you informed of further developments

Lieutenant-General J.P.A. Deschamps,
Commander Royal Canadian
Air Force