Air chief marshal (Australia)


 * See air chief marshal for other countries which use this rank



Air chief marshal is the highest active rank of the Royal Australian Air Force and was created as a direct equivalent of the British Royal Air Force rank of air chief marshal. It is also considered a four-star rank. The only time the rank is held is when the Chief of the Defence Force is an Air Force officer.

Air chief marshal is a higher rank than air marshal and is a lower rank than Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force, which has only ever been awarded as an honorary rank. Air chief marshal is a direct equivalent of admiral in the Royal Australian Navy and general in the Australian Army.

The insignia is three light blue bands (each on a slightly wider black band) over a light blue band on a black broad band.

Australian air chief marshals
With the establishment of the Australian Air Board on 9 November 1920, Australian Air Corps officers dropped their army ranks in favour of those based on the Royal Air Force. However, it was not until 1965 when Sir Frederick Scherger became Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and was promoted to air chief marshal that an RAAF officer attained the rank. Throughout the history of the RAAF, only three of its officers have held the rank. Apart from Scherger, they are Sir Neville McNamara (in 1982) and Angus Houston (in 2005), the immediate previous Chief of the Defence Force. Sir Charles Burnett, the RAAF Chief of the Air Staff during World War II, held the rank but he was an RAF officer on loan service.