Marshal of the air force is the English term for the most senior rank in a number of air forces. The ranks described by this term can properly be considered marshal ranks.
No air force in an English-speaking country formally uses the exact title "marshal of the air force", although it is sometimes used as a shortened form of the full title. In several Commonwealth air forces and many Middle Eastern air forces the most senior rank is named "marshal of the", followed by the name of the air force (e.g. marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force).
Brazil and Italy have used rank titles which literally translate as marshal of the air, whereas Portugal's rank translates as "marshal of the air force". The Soviet Union used "chief marshal of air forces" but the modern Russian Federation has discontinued this usage. Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe used the rank of generalfeldmarschall (also used by the World War II German Army) and the even higher rank of reichsmarschall which was held solely by Hermann Göring.
The first instance of this rank was marshal of the Royal Air Force, which was established on paper in 1919 and was first held by Lord Trenchard (from 1927 onwards). Other Commonwealth countries later adopted their own national versions of the rank but, unlike the United Kingdom, they have only used it as a ceremonial honour.
Read more about Marshal Of The Air Force: Seniority, Rank Insignia, Current Holders of The Rank, List of Marshals of The Air Force, Other Countries, Fictional Use
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or force:
“That air would disappear from the whole earth in time, perhaps; but long after his day. He did not know just when it had become so necessary to him, but he had come back to die in exile for the sake of it. Something soft and wild and free, something that whispered to the ear on the pillow, lightened the heart, softly, softly picked the lock, slid the bolts, and released the prisoned spirit of man into the wind, into the blue and gold, into the morning, into the morning!”
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