Woman RAF officer joins top military brass
 

SAC to AVM - impressive.

BBC News - Woman RAF officer joins top military brass

I don't know the lady but I wish her well.

Sun.

Good for her - congratulations ma'am.

My heartiest congratulations, Elaine! Thoroughly well deserved - as was your CBE in the New Years' Honours!

Many congratulations - older members may remember her hubby "Stringy" who served on 17(F) Sqn when Elaine was PMS at Bruggen. Lovely couple.

A great girl and well worth the promotion. I knew her well at Bruggen and served on 17 with Stringy whilst she was OC PMF (not PMS) as a flight lieutenant. I also met her (and Stringy) recently at a thrash in the RAF Club. Hadn't changed a bit, still very humble about her position then as a 1-Star and wondering what all the fuss was about!

Well done, Mrs Stringy!

Bloggs:D

A former SAC in the RAF Club? :rolleyes:...;)

Many forumers must be choking at breakfast this morning? :bored:

Senior female ranks
 

Congratulations to AVM West, reading the other post it is well deserved. She is not the first senior female officer in the Air Force to reach this rank though. I know some will say I am splitting hairs but females in the RAF were previously in the WRAF before it was absorbed and before that in the WAAF. before that it was the air branch of the ATS and originally the WRAF in WW1. Here is a little history of female air force ranks through the period:

Initially, the WAAF used the ATS ranking system, although the director held the rank of "Senior Controller" (equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army, Air Commodore in the RAF) instead of "Chief Controller" (equivalent to Major-General, Air Vice-Marshal) as in the ATS. However, in December 1939 the name was changed to Air Commandant, when the ranks were renamed and reorganized, other ranks now held identical ranks to male RAF personnel, but officers continued to have a separate rank system, although now different from that of the ATS. From February 1940 it was no longer possible to enter directly as an officer; from that time all officers were appointed from the other ranks. From July 1941 WAAF officers held full commissions. On January 1, 1943, the rank of Air Chief Commandant (equivalent to Major-General, Air Vice-Marshal) was created with the director's appointment to that rank.

On July 1, 1939, Jane Trefusis Forbes was made Director of WAAF, with the rank of Senior Controller, later, Air Commandant. On January 1, 1943 she was appointed to the rank of Air Chief Commandant with its creation. On October 4, 1943, while Forbes toured Canada, assessing the Women's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force, she was relieved by HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who had been head of the WAAF since 1939, again with the rank of Senior Controller, then, Air Commandant, being gazetted to Air Chief Commandant on March 22, 1943. Forbes retired in August 1944, and the post of director was given to Mary Welsh, who was appointed Air Chief Commandant. After the war, the rank of Air Chief Commandant was suspended and in December 1946, the final director of WAAF, Felicity Hanbury, was appointed.

Just thought it might be of interest. The BBC news (and the RAF publicity machine) got it slightly wrong - again.

Anyway, well done Ma'am!
:D:D:D:D

Only over such a stupid and unnecessary comment, Secret1....:rolleyes:

She played the game well. And she was lucky to have Paul.

Don't know the lady but huge congratulations.
Isn't it great to see an Air Officer who is not:-
a. A pilot
b. A male
c. A graduate

Well done ma'am.

Congratulations are undoubtedly well deserved but I do find it somewhat odd that some one can rise to such a rank in today's RAF without a single operational medal?

Congratulations, ma'am.
I believe we had the pleasure of speaking to, then, Air Cdre West at the unveiling of the Bomber Command memorial in June last year.

I wonder if they know that they have a member who is a former REME Craftsman? ;)

Worked with Elaine in the then RAFIO at Benson some years back. Nice person and an exceptionally good operator. Promotion richly deserved and the right person for that particular appointment.

You must have missed the numerous navigators (including the current VCDS), countless engineers, doctors and even the occasional padre. I agree that it is good to see 'the best person for the job' appointed, regardless of branch.

Agreed. There is also another female 1* who I suspect has a chance of further advancement - a fighter controller before you ask!

I don't see that as a good thing or a bad thing. It's just a thing, not worthy of the tag 'great'. The Army and Navy stuff their starred ranks with graduates precisely because they are adept at negotiating the 'old school tie' network, which (like it or not) is how much of the real business gets done in the murky world of Whitehall....

And why we are in the sh*te

While I'm sure the promotion is richly deserved, the cynical side of me wonders how much bearing the recent, much publicised discrimination case against the RAF had on the decision. I would love to think for once the RAF has done the right thing, but !!!

Kismboy,

absolutely none! Elaine is a great operator and has got this on merit. Best person for the job.

You may rest assured that it most certainly has.

I'm glad to hear it Beags, I wasn't trying to disrespect the lady at all, just thinking out loud as to how some may view it. No offence was intended.

Well done Elaine - one of the Good Guys. :D

Understood, ksimboy.

Incidentally, Stringy tells me that Elaine has been very touched by the many kind words of PPRuNe contributors today.

SAC to AVM......only the most cynical would say that happens by chance and circumstance.

Most would say thats hard bloody work....dedication (even if its not your flavour or dedication)

Hats off!

Nice to see an ex ranker doing well.

Congratulations to the lady....how many 2* are we down to now?

TomD72. Thank you very much for the info. You always were a mine of information. I'm about to trawl through all your other posts in search of similar gems!

Well, as a former member of the 2 winged Master Race, and an admin sec later I offer my hearty congratulations. Best RAF boss I ever had was a woman (Aunty Joan). To do the job well and discharge family responsibilities as well - Brilliant and a shining example to all young men and women. Very, very well done (Lucky not to have been at IOT a year later - might have got me as a flight commander and that could have blighted a brilliant career).

Many congratulations to the AVM, it can't have been easy! It isn't easy for anyone to reach that rank.

Some years ago a young lady Fg Off, ex Cpl Rigger, and straight out of IOT, was given a holding posting on to my team (me with a newly acquired scraper). She really pulled her weight and did a b****y good job for us before she got her first proper posting.

Within a few short years she outranked me and good for her too.

Rgds SOS

Because of course no serving (modern) RAF father has to do that do they:ugh:

Did she have a head start by missing out the first two rungs on the ladder? ;)

From the BBC report...

...although admittedly they made the usual mistake of inserting a superflous 's' into the name of the rank. Seem to recall my rank was AC when I was at OCTU.

Never made AVM though :(

(And with the greatest of respect both to the lady herself and her husband - she's a bit of a looker, too. Navs marry all the prettiest girls ;) )

Takes them a wee while to find them though.............;)

I guess in a few years this kind of appointment will not even feature in the press -women have been at the highest level in business for years - the RAF still has a little way to go.

Is it dead man/women's shoes or does it mean the top heavy pile just got a little heavier?

Congratulations though.



..

# Wrathers - indeed.

Well done to AVM West and indeed, to anyone from the ranks who gets that far - inside every Private's backpack/WRAF's handbag is a.. well, you get the picture. I hope she has considered her annual and lifetime (pension) allowances mind!

Riley

Quite...I am really pleased for AVM West and it sounds like she has the respect of many (I don't know her, but I'll accept her references! :ok:). However, how much longer do we have to put up with "first female to" headlines? Surely, we're long past all of this now? We've come a long way since Emmeline Pankhurst (thank God) but we must stop the constant publicity - if nothing else, if I were female I would find it a bit patronising!

As for the campaign medals, she is not alone as there are many currently serving (of all branches) who have never been in the position to qualify for one. Still, does she need to have one if she is an infra-whizz as so many have pointed out? I would rather have a competent individual at the helm of DIO than a scribbly with a chest full of campaign gongs who's run A1/J1 Ops in a comfy air conditioned portacabin somewhere! :ok:

Congratulations, AVM West from a fellow officer :D

LJ

As someone, who could have the absolute profile of an old bloke who never got modern. Congratulations to this delightful and worthy lady. Regardless of anything on this planet, a person should be both respected and rewarded for their humanity and capability. Old bloke or whatever, I delight in the chance to shoot down neersayers and doubters. I'm sure most on this forum welcome this announcement.

Smudge

Gongs
 

The Op Gong issue will not matter in about 5 years when there will be noone without one from somewhere or other.

Our lady (and I have no doubt she is talented and able - you don't get there without being so) will be amongst the last without one as there will be today's generation queueing in the wings...and it is a talented queue.

I have 5 Op Gongs - but there was no way I was talented enough to be an AVM.

Well done AVM!

G:ok:

Gijoe

In 5 years time we'll all still be in and aiming at a retirement date of 60 instead of 55! Anyway, there will still be plenty without gongs and also no 'choccy' jubilee ones either!

LJ (4x Op and 2x Choccies and bar!)

How about an RV in the corner of the mess at Snoringville trying to do 4 Across being grumpy??

...dribbling...thinking that life 'ain't the same as when I joined up'...dribbling...looking at the 2 servicable frames out of 37...dribbling...discussing how rubbish AFPS24 is compared to AFPS15 let alone AFPS05 let alone AFPS75 etc...

My gongs will have long tarnished but I had a great time!

Well done again AVM.

G:ok:

(This is meant to be humourous and not a dig at you!!)

The fact that Elaine might not have a campaign medal is, frankly, completely and utterly irrelevant. She has made it to AVM at quite a young age purely through her own talent and ability.

There is an increasingly corrosive attitude around these days, which can be described as "You ain't done sand = you ain't done $hit"; such a blinkered attitude needs to be restrained. I first came across the very same attitude some 31 years ago, when I encountered some poisonous little thruster of a Sqn Ldr who was desperate for a posting to the South Atlantic - for no other reason than "If you haven't been to the Falklands, you're no-one in London"......:rolleyes:

I left the RAF with 3 or 4 gongs, not sure how many because I kinda lost interest.

One was for doing my job and keeping out the poo for 15 years. One was for barbecues on Ascension Island. The one's I never claimed were for the bosses birthday and some shoot off/piss up in a hot place that I was never at.

...and we give the spam's grief :eek:

Well done to the maam in question and well done pprune for clearing up the family discussion as to why I was confused as to her being reported as the RAF's first female 2 star.