Group captain (Gp Capt or Grp Cpt in the RAF and IAF, GPCAPT in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly G/C in the RCAF) is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore. The name of the rank is the complete phrase, and is never shortened to "captain".
It has a NATO ranking code of OF-5, and is equivalent to a captain in the Royal Navy or a colonel in the British Army or the Royal Marines. Group captain is the rank usually held by the station commander of a large RAF station.
The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) (until 1968) and Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) (until 1980) was group officer. The equivalent rank in the Royal Observer Corps (until 1995) was observer captain which had a similar rank insignia.
Read more about Group Captain: Origins, Use, Insignia and Command Pennant, Other Air Forces, Notable Group Captains
Famous quotes containing the words group and/or captain:
“Even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another—secret and passionate and intense—which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends. Always in his mind each member of these social units is escaping, running away, trying to break the net which circumstances and his own affections have woven about him.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“If something isn’t saved, then what’s it all for?”
—Sydney Pollack. Captain Beckman (Patrick O’Neal)