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.
Commandants-general +Sources 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 3rd 30 June 1948 Air Vice-Marshal H T Lydford Inspector of Ground Combat Training 4th 26 October 1950 Air Vice-Marshal S C Strafford 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 Defence10th6 January 1962Air Vice Marshal K W GodfreyInspector 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 Inspector of Ground Defence 13th 6 January 1973 Air Vice-Marshal D A Pocock Inspector of Ground Defence 14th 3 May 1975 Air Vice-Marshal A Griffiths Inspector of Ground Defence – to 1976Director-General of Security (RAF) – from 1976 15th 28 May 1977 Air Vice-Marshal B G Lock Director-General of Security (RAF) 16th 28 April 1979 Air Vice-Marshal H Reed-Purvis Director-General of Security (RAF) 17th 4 August 1983 Air Vice-Marshal J F G Howe Director-General of Security (RAF) 18th 30 August 1985 Air Vice-Marshal D B Leech Director-General of Security (RAF) 19th 15 December 1987 Air Vice-Marshal J H Harris Director-General of Security (RAF) 20th 11 January 1990 Air Vice-Marshal G C Williams 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 26th January 2003 Air Commodore S Anderton 27th March 2005 Air Commodore P J Drissell 28th 2 January 2007 Air Commodore S Abbott 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. 32nd April 2016 Air Commodore R F J Clifford 33rd May 2019 Air Commodore S M Miller 34th May 2022 Air Vice-Marshal M J Smeath Head of British Defence Staff, United States UK Defence Attaché to the USA Director, Global Defence Network, UK Ministry of Defence 35th February 2026 Air Commodore Paul Tavus Hamilton
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