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
Air force officer ranks of air force rank insignia in use, many air forces use army-style rank insignia whilst others follow the Royal Air Force style (shown below). Air force officer ranks Many Air forces of use a rank system similar to Armies, however, the RAF and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries, or those formerly under a British influence, use a different set of ranks loosely based on naval equivalents; Lieutenant, Commander, Captain and Commodore are prefixed for air force use with "Flight", "Wing", "Group" and "Air", respectively (the first three being the units that they used to command). To assist in