Royal Air Force commander of the RAF Regiment
The Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment (CG RAF Regt ) is the Royal Air Force commander of the RAF Regiment . The post was established in January 1942 immediately prior to the creation of the RAF Regiment. The first two holders of the post were major-generals in the British Army . From 1948 onward, the Commandant-General has been an RAF officer of air rank and tied to the appointment of the senior RAF Regiment commander. These officers all held the rank of air vice-marshal until 1993 when the post was reduced to air commodore to reflect a general downsizing of both the RAF and the RAF Regiment. In 2022, the appointment was assigned to AVM Michael Smeath CBE, a career RAF Regiment officer who held an external Joint Service appointment with the Service.
Commandants-general
Sources[ 1] [ 2]
Ordinal
Date of appointment
Rank on appointment
Name of officer
Other duty
1st
January 1942
Major-General
Sir Claude Liardet
Director-General of Ground Defences at the Air Ministry
2nd
1945
Major-General
A E Robinson [ 3]
3rd
30 June 1948
Air Vice-Marshal
H T Lydford [ 4]
Inspector of Ground Combat Training
4th
26 October 1950
Air Vice-Marshal
S C Strafford [ 5]
Inspector of Ground Combat Training
5th
1 October 1952
Air Vice-Marshal
Sir Francis Mellersh
Inspector of Ground Combat Training
6th
23 September 1954
Air Vice-Marshal
B C Yarde
Inspector of Ground Defence
7th
12 February 1957
Air Vice-Marshal
J L F Fuller-Good
Inspector of Ground Defence
8th
1 March 1959
Air Vice-Marshal
J H Harris
Inspector of Ground Defence
9th
5 August 1961
Air Vice-Marshal
E M F Grundy
Inspector of Ground Defence
10th
6 January 1962
Air Vice Marshal
K W Godfrey
Inspector of Ground Defence
11th
7 January 1963
Air Vice-Marshal
Sir Bernard Chacksfield
Inspector of Ground Defence
12th
3 May 1968
Air Vice-Marshal
B P Young [ 6]
Inspector of Ground Defence
13th
6 January 1973
Air Vice-Marshal
D A Pocock [ 7] [ 8]
Inspector of Ground Defence
14th
3 May 1975
Air Vice-Marshal
A Griffiths
Inspector of Ground Defence – to 1976 Director-General of Security (RAF) – from 1976
15th
28 May 1977
Air Vice-Marshal
B G Lock [ 9]
Director-General of Security (RAF)
16th
28 April 1979
Air Vice-Marshal
H Reed-Purvis [ 10]
Director-General of Security (RAF)
17th
4 August 1983
Air Vice-Marshal
J F G Howe [ 11]
Director-General of Security (RAF)
18th
30 August 1985
Air Vice-Marshal
D B Leech [ 12]
Director-General of Security (RAF)
19th
15 December 1987
Air Vice-Marshal
J H Harris [ 13]
Director-General of Security (RAF)
20th
11 January 1990
Air Vice-Marshal
G C Williams[ 14]
Director-General of Security (RAF)
21st
25 January 1991
Air Vice-Marshal
D R Hawkins (later Hawkins-Leth)
22nd
8 March 1993
Air Commodore
T G Thorn
Director of Defence Fire Services
23rd
March 1995
Air Commodore
I W P McNeil
24th
May 1999
Air Commodore
R C Moore
25th
1 April 2001
Air Commodore
N A Bairsto [ 15]
26th
January 2003
Air Commodore
S Anderton
27th
March 2005
Air Commodore
P J Drissell [ 16] [ 17]
28th
2 January 2007
Air Commodore
S Abbott [ 17]
Air Officer RAF Police
29th
5 February 2010
Air Commodore
R W La Forte
30th
February 2012
Air Commodore
N Bray
31st
13 May 2013
Air Commodore
A J Hall
Air Officer, RAF Police.[ 18]
32nd
April 2016
Air Commodore
R F J Clifford[ 19]
33rd
May 2019
Air Commodore
S M Miller[ 20]
34th
May 2022
Air Vice-Marshal
M J Smeath [ 21]
Head of British Defence Staff, United States UK Defence Attaché to the USA Director, Global Defence Network, UK Ministry of Defence
References
Formations and units
Branches and components Reserve forces Equipment Personnel Appointments Symbols and uniform Associated civil organisations
Active squadrons
Inactive
Armoured Car Companies RAF Regiment units RAuxAF Regiment units