18-598: (Redirected from Observer Officer ) Observer officer may refer to: A rank equivalent to pilot officer for non-pilots in the Royal Air Force, phased out between the World Wars A rank equivalent to flying officer used in the Royal Observer Corps Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
36-530: Is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force . The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence . Pilot officer is the lowest ranking commissioned officer immediately below flying officer . It is usually equivalent to the rank of second lieutenant in other services. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)
54-775: Is home to the headquarters of No. 3 Flying Training School (No. 3 FTS). The school provides elementary flying training for fixed wing and multi-engine student pilots from the RAF and Fleet Air Arm through No. 57 (Reserve) Squadron and No. 703 Naval Air Squadron . The UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) operates the Grob Prefect T1 in this role. Although nominally based at Cranwell, elementary training largely takes place at nearby RAF Barkston Heath . After elementary training, aircrews streamed to fly multi-engine aircraft and rear-seat roles are trained by No. 45(R) Squadron , which operate five Embraer Phenom 100 . On 16 January 2018,
72-680: Is thus the RAF equivalent of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst or the Britannia Royal Naval College . The station is home to the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre (OASC), where all applicants to the RAF as officers or non-commissioned aircrew , are put through a rigorous selection process. HQ CFS has been located at RAF Cranwell since 1995 when it moved from RAF Scampton . The Central Flying School currently trains all RAF QFI flying instructors. Cranwell
90-554: The "Royal Naval Air Service Training Establishment, Cranwell" was officially born. In 1917 a dedicated railway station was established for the RNAS establishment on a new single track branch line from Sleaford, the train being known as The Cranwell Flyer. With the establishment of the Royal Air Force as an independent service in 1918, the RNAS Training Establishment became RAF Cranwell. The Royal Air Force College Cranwell
108-651: The RAF's new officers and aircrew. The motto, Altium Altrix , meaning "Nurture the highest" appears above the main doors of the Officers Mess. Since January 2023, RAF Cranwell has been commanded by Group Captain Tina Jessup. The history of military aviation at Cranwell goes back to November 1915, when the Admiralty requisitioned 2,500 acres (10 km ) of land from the Marquess of Bristol 's estate. On 1 April 1916,
126-450: The RAF. The rank insignia consists of a thin blue band on slightly wider black band. This is worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform. Although no current Royal Navy rank has an insignia of a single half width ring, a pilot officer's mess insignia of one thin band of gold running around each cuff is similar to the insignia formerly worn by Royal Navy warrant officers. As with
144-547: The RAF. Consideration was given to renaming second lieutenants as ensigns . However, when the RAF's own rank structure was introduced in August 1919, RAF second lieutenants who were qualified pilots were re-designated as pilot officers, a rank which has been in continuous use ever since. Those who were not qualified pilots were redesignated observer officers , but this was later phased out and all officers of this rank became pilot officers. The rank of pilot officer does not imply that
162-636: The Skyes Building was opened at Cranwell by Air Marshal Sean Reynolds , the Deputy Commander Capability and Senior Responsible Owner of the UKMFTS. The building acts as a UKMFTS operational support building and is used to train new RAF pilots. It was named after Air-Vice Marshal Sir Frederick Hugh Sykes , a British military officer and politician who served during the First World War . Since
180-491: The end of pilot training. As they retained their commissions in their customary ranks (usually second lieutenant or lieutenant), and many of them had been seconded from their ground units, the designation of pilot officer was a position title rather than a rank. On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army , with Royal Flying Corps second lieutenants becoming second lieutenants in
198-572: The mess insignia for other RAF officer ranks, the band of gold does not have the Royal Navy's loop. RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell ( ICAO : EGYD ) is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire , England, close to the village of Cranwell , near Sleaford . Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trains
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#1732844794425216-727: The mid-1990s, Cranwell has been home to Headquarters, Air Cadets , and the Air Cadet Organisation 's Adult Training Facility. The following notable flying and non-flying units are based at RAF Cranwell. No. 22 Group (Training) RAF No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) RAF RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre Other RAF Units The RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine , which consists of three wings: Aviation Medicine Wing, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Wing, and Support Wing, will re-locate from RAF Henlow to RAF Cranwell by 2026. The equipment being relocated includes: "aircraft cockpit rigs; hypobaric chambers, which simulate
234-415: The officer is aircrew. Following reforms to the Royal Air Force's promotion system, wherein previously, university graduates passed out of RAF Cranwell at a higher substantive rank than their non-graduate peers, pilot officer rank is now only applicable to ground branches. Aircrew and engineers receive their commissions as flying officers and skip the rank altogether. A ground branch officer will remain in
252-480: The pilot officer rank for six months following commissioning, before an automatic promotion to flying officer. Because of the nature of phase II training (professional training after the phase I initial officer training), a pilot officer will generally spend time in rank on a further training course, and is not likely to be operationally active. Some students in the University Air Squadrons are promoted to
270-601: The rank of acting pilot officer (which includes a week-long course at RAF Cranwell) as part of the leadership element of their squadron. UAS students wear pilot officer rank insignia with officer's headdress and are commissioned into the Volunteer Reserve. Pilot officers are more likely to be found in the CCF and Air Training Corps organisations of the VR(T) branch, because they are likely to spend far longer in rank than those serving in
288-617: The title Observer officer . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Observer_officer&oldid=660081901 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Former military ranks of the Royal Air Force Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Pilot officer Pilot officer ( Plt Off or P/O )
306-624: Was "company assistant", later renamed to "assistant section officer". The rank was used in the Royal Canadian Air Force until the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces , when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian pilot officers then became second lieutenants . In official Canadian French usage, the rank title was sous-lieutenant d'aviation . In the Royal Flying Corps , officers were designated pilot officers at
324-527: Was formed on 1 November 1919 as the RAF (Cadet) College. Cranwell is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which overseas all RAF phase 1 Training. The RAF Officer Training Academy (RAFOTA) is the sub organisation of the RAFC which trains the RAFs new officers on a 24-week Modular Initial Officer Training Course (MIOTC) , after which they are dispersed to their Phase II training for specific branch instruction. It
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