Commander Air Force's mid-rank officers' ranks are modelled on those of the Royal Navy, the term wing commander is used as a rank, and this is the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the army or a commander in the navy. The rank of wing commander is above that of squadron leader and below that of group captain. In the former Royal Naval Air Service, which was merged with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force in 1918, the pilots held appointments as well as their normal ranks in the Royal Navy, and they wore insignia appropriate to
Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service there via the Cocos Islands, to RAAF Pearce in Western Australia, then to RAAF Richmond in New South Wales. In 1977 the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service ceased to exist as an independent branch when it was integrated into the Royal Australian Air Force. All RAAFNS recruits were commissioned on entry with the rank of flying officer, though they had their own rank structure. Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service The Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS) was a branch of the Royal Australian Air Force, which existed from 1940 to 1946, and from 1948 to 1977. Members