Originally Posted by
sharpend
Ridiculous. I remember when Sqn Ldrs were squadron commanders and Flt Lts flight commanders.
Well, some of them were ... and some weren’t.
WW2 heavy bomber sqns had wg cdrs, did they not? And Air Cdres commanded their clutch of Base airfields (main plus 1-2 satellites). Post WW2, most front line FJ, and certainly V-Force, sqns had wg cdrs almost from startex. Presumably based on their sqns’ importance in the Defence constellation? At Tengah, wg cdrs ran the Javelin//Lightning sqns, but sqn ldrs ran the Hunter/Canberra sqns.
No doubt someone will explain why VC-10 captains needed A/sqn ldr rank, but that’s a separate handbagging topic! 😎