It's that day again

No... not that day. On this day in 1918 the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force.

The RAF, as an armed service independent of either army or naval administration, has the distinction of being the first and oldest such air force in the world. It's army and naval roots can be detected in its rank nomenclature where non-commissioned rates approximate those of the army and commissioned officers are more closely akin to naval ranks.

It has been suggested that the RAF is the more civilized of the the three services, its members occasionally being referred to as "gentlemen warriors". That has caused more than one bun-fight to break out at a tri-service mess dinner when a member of one of the other services pointedly disagreed with that moniker.

In any case, they do have their own language.



Just kidding. Happy 90th birthday to the RAF.