List of Royal Australian Air Force air marshals



The following is a list of Australians who have attained air marshal rank within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF); that is, service personnel who have held the rank of air chief marshal (four-star rank), air marshal (three-star rank) or air vice marshal (two-star rank). The Royal Australian Air Force was established in 1921 as a separate branch of the Australian military forces. The service was modelled after the Royal Air Force—formed three years earlier—and adopted the same ranking system. Richard Williams, regarded as the "father" of the Royal Australian Air Force, was the service's first member to obtain air-officer rank on being promoted to air commodore (one-star rank) in 1927; he went on to become the first air vice marshal (1935) and air marshal (1940). In 1965, Sir Frederick Scherger became the first officer to be advanced to air chief marshal, one of only three members of the Royal Australian Air Force to obtain this rank to date. A further nineteen Australians have reached air marshal and 116 air vice marshal; seven officers have retired with the hononary rank of air vice marshal.

Air chief marshals



 * A dash (—) in the "Died" column indicates that the person is still living.

The rank of air chief marshal is the most senior rank within the Royal Australian Air Force to which, excluding ceremonial appointments, any officer has ever been promoted. Only the five-star rank of Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force is higher, but it has only been held in a ceremonial capacity. As there are currently no appointments in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) at the five-star level, there is no prospect of a Royal Australian Air Force officer achieving the rank in a professional (i.e. non-ceremonial) capacity. Additionally, Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force is generally considered to be a marshal rank as opposed to an air marshal rank and so the only two individuals ever to hold the rank, King George VI and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, are not listed in a separate section. With the current structure of the ADF, the rank of air chief marshal is only held when an officer of the Royal Australian Air Force is appointed as Chief of the Defence Force. To date, only three people have obtained the rank of air chief marshal in the Royal Australian Air Force, the first being Sir Frederick Scherger in 1965 who was also the first non-Army officer in the Australian military to reach four-star rank. The most recently promoted of the trio is Angus Houston, who was advanced to air chief marshal in 2005, and retired on 4 July 2011 after serving six years as Chief of the Defence Force.

Air chief marshals of the Royal Australian Air Force are as follows:

Air marshals



 * A dash (—) in the "Died" column indicates that the person is still living.

Air marshal is the highest permanent rank in the Royal Australian Air Force. The rank of air marshal is always held by the Chief of Air Force, though said rank is also held when a Royal Australian Air Force officer is appointed as Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Chief of Joint Operations or Chief of Capability Development Group within the Department of Defence. Richard Williams was the first person in the Royal Australian Air Force to be advanced to air marshal on promotion in 1940. Williams, regarded as the 'father' of the Royal Australian Air Force, was its first and longest serving Chief, being appointed to the post during three different periods and serving for a total of thirteen years. Mark Binskin, the incumbent Vice Chief of the Defence Force, was promoted to air marshal in 2008. The current Chief of Air Force, Geoff Brown, is the most recent officer to obtain the rank of air marshal on promotion in July 2011.

Air marshals of the Royal Australian Air Force are as follows:

Air vice marshals



 * A dash (—) in the "Died" column indicates that the person is still living.

The first Royal Australian Air Force air vice marshal was Richard Williams in 1935; he was followed by Stanley Goble—Williams' successor all three times he held the position of Chief of the Air Staff—two years later. Among the Royal Australian Air Force officers to hold this rank is Frank Hubert McNamara, the first Australian aviator to be decorated with the Victoria Cross. McNamara was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917 during the First World War while serving with the Australian Flying Corps, the Australian Army's air branch and predecessor of the Royal Australian Air Force; he was made an air vice marshal in 1942. Currently, only two women have reached air vice marshal rank: Julie Hammer, the first female to obtain one-star rank in the Australian Defence Force on promotion to air commodore in 1999, was the first to achieve two-star rank when advanced to air vice marshal in 2003; Margaret Staib was promoted in 2010 on appointment as Commander Joint Logistics.

Air vice marshals of the Royal Australian Air Force are as follows: