Editing Royal Air Force (section)

===Officers===
[[File:Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CH20901.jpg|thumb|King [[George VI]], [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]], and [[Elizabeth II|Princess Elizabeth]] with RAF personnel during World War II]]
Officers hold a [[Letters patent|commission]] from the [[British monarchy|sovereign]], which provides the legal authority for them to issue orders to subordinates. The commission of a regular officer is granted after successfully completing the 24-week-long Initial Officer Training course at the [[RAF College Cranwell|RAF College, Cranwell]], Lincolnshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/media/2167/090816-iot_course_breakdown-u.pdf|title=RAF IOT Breakdown|date=9 August 2016|access-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022222208/https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/media/2167/090816-iot_course_breakdown-u.pdf|archive-date=22 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

To emphasise the merger of both military and naval aviation when the RAF was formed, many of the titles of officers were deliberately chosen to be of a naval character, such as [[flight lieutenant]], [[Wing Commander (rank)|wing commander]], [[group captain]], and [[air commodore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Ranks-Uniform/Ranks1.htm|title=Commissioned ranks of the Royal Air Force 1919–present|publisher=Air of Authority – A history of RAF Organisation|access-date=31 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231211913/http://www.rafweb.org/Ranks-Uniform/Ranks1.htm|archive-date=31 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1952, officers served in one of fourteen branches: Catering; Chaplains; Dental; Education; Equipment; Fighter Control; General Duties (i.e. aircrew); Legal; Medical; Physical Fitness; Provost; RAF Regiment; Secretarial; and Technical. All except General Duties and the RAF Regiment were open to women.<ref name="Chaffe">G. H. Chaffe (ed.), ''Careers Encyclopædia'', Avon Press: London, 1952.</ref>