This is a list of personnel numbers in the Royal Air Force, from its inception in 1918, up until the modern day.

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

staffing numbers have fluctuated with periodic demand, however, since the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, numbers have decreased steadily and the RAF itself has shrunk in terms of operating bases. Several schemes have been implemented during times of excess staffing to reduce numbers.

History

Several programmes were introduced over the life of the Royal Air Force with a view to either reducing, or increasing personnel in line with current threats, or loss of a perceived threat, such as after the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Second World Wars. Other programmes were developed outside of conflict such as the ''

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

'' in 1990 (end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

), and the ''Defence Costs Study'' (or ''

Front Line First Front Line First: The Defence Cost Study was a UK programme of defence cuts announced on 14 July 1994 by then Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind. Front Line First was announced four years after Options for Change, which was a military draw-down a ...

'') in 1994. Post First World War saw a huge reduction in staffing and aircraft, though recruitment did continue apace. One notable exception was the

Women's Royal Air Force The Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was the women's branch of the Royal Air Force. It existed in two separate incarnations: the Women's Royal Air Force from 1918 to 1920 and the Women's Royal Air Force from 1949 to 1994. On 1 February 1949, the ...

(WRAF) which was disbanded completely in 1920. At

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, Fran ...

in 1918, the fledgling Royal Air Force consisted of a combined personnel of 291,170, which was expected to be reduced to 60,000 by 1 October 1919. In fact, by October 1919, the numbers had dropped to 58,000, increasing fears within the Air Force that it would cease to be an independent Air Force, and be subsumed into either the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

or the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. In 1925, the government announced plans to temporarily cease the expansion of the RAF, and it dropped in numbers between 1926 and 1927 from 33,500 to 33,009. In response to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

re-armament, particularly that of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

, an expansion of the RAF was announced in May 1935, stating a near trebling of aircraft and staff by the end of the next financial year (31 March 1937), resulting in an additional 22,500 personnel. A re-assessment of necessary staffing after the end of the Cold War, prompted a

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

review called ''Options for Change''. This scaled the Air Force at 75,000, having previously had a strength up to 1990 of 88,500. However, further cuts were implemented during 1993 which were not part of the original ''Options'' paper after natural wastage did not produce enough of a drop in numbers, and with the additional loss of one

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

squadron in the meantime; estimates were recalculated to 70,000. Large swathes of redundancies were served upon all three strands of the UK military structure in 1995. This saw at least 9,000 redundancies, of which, 7,500 were in the Royal Air Force alone. Full time personnel were offset in loss of numbers by the uplift of Reserve Personnel as per a government directive to increase the number of reservists. This can be seen by the increase of reservists, of which the percentage of reservists expanded two and half times over between October 2013 and October 2021.

Example personnel numbers

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{Royal Air Force History of the Royal Air Force