Everything about Flight Sergeant totally explained
Flight Sergeant (
Flt Sgt,
F/Sgt,
F/S,
FSgt or
FS) is a senior
non-commissioned rank in the
British Royal Air Force and several other
air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure. It is equivalent to a
Staff Sergeant in the British Army and has a
NATO rank code of OR-7.
History
The rank was devised in the British
Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and passed to the
Royal Air Force (RAF), on its formation in 1918. RFC flight sergeants wore a four-bladed propeller between the chevrons and the crown.
On 1 July 1946,
aircrew flight sergeants were redesignated
Aircrew I and replaced their chevrons with three six-pointed stars within a wreath and surmounted by an eagle and a crown. This proved unpopular however, and in 1950 they reverted to their old rank and badge, although Flight Sergeant Aircrew wear an eagle between chevrons and crown. Flight Sergeants in ground trades wear only a crown above the three chevrons.
Between 1950 and 1964, the rank of
Chief Technician was equivalent to flight sergeant and was held instead of it by technicians, but now chief technician is a junior rank (still only held by technicians), although classified by NATO in the same grade.
Usage
In the RAF, Flight Sergeant ranks above
Chief Technician and below
Warrant Officer. The insignia for aircrew flight sergeants has an eagle in between the chevrons and the crown.
Apart from the RAF, the rank of Flight Sergeant is also used by many
Commonwealth air forces, including the
Royal Australian Air Force, the
Royal New Zealand Air Force, the
Ghana Air Force, the
Bangladesh Air Force, the
South African Air Force and the
Air Force of Zimbabwe. In
Canada, since the unification of the
Canadian Forces in 1968, this rank has been replaced by
Warrant Officer though the rank is still used by the
Royal Canadian Air Cadets. The rank is also used in the
Irish Air Corps.
In the RAF, the rank insignia is three downward pointing
chevrons below a crown and flight sergeants are usually addressed as "Flight" and are never addressed by the junior rank of "Sergeant".
Flight Sergeant is also used in many
cadet organizations around the world, such as the
Air Training Corps,
Combined Cadet Force (RAF Section) and
Royal Canadian Air Cadets.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Flight Sergeant'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://flight_sergeant.totallyexplained.com">Flight Sergeant Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |