Editing Warrant officer (section)

====Royal Air Force====
The [[Royal Air Force]] first used the ranks of sergeant major first and second class as inherited from the [[Royal Flying Corps]], with the rank badges of the Royal coat of arms and the crown respectively. In the 1930s, these ranks were renamed warrant officer class I and II as in the Army. In 1939, the RAF abolished the rank of WOII and retained just the WOI rank, referred to as just warrant officer (WO), which it remains to this day. The RAF has no equivalent to WO2 (NATO OR-8), an RAF WO being equivalent to WO1 (NATO OR-9) and wearing the same badge of rank, the Royal coat of arms. The correct way to address a warrant officer is "sir" or "ma'am" by airmen and "mister or warrant officer (surname)" by officers. Most RAF warrant officers do not hold appointments as in the army or Royal Marines; the exception to this is the station warrant officer, who is considered a "[[primus inter pares|first amongst equals]]" on an [[Royal Air Force station|RAF station]]. Warrant officer is the highest non-commissioned rank and ranks above flight sergeant.

In 1946, the RAF renamed its aircrew warrant officers to master aircrew, a designation which still survives. In 1950, it renamed warrant officers in technical trades to master technicians, a designation which survived only until 1964.

The most senior RAF warrant officer by appointment, although holding the same rank as other RAF warrant officers (OR9), is the [[Warrant Officer of the Royal Air Force]], previously known as the Chief of the Air Staff's Warrant Officer from the post's creation in 1996 until 2021.