Aircraftman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Common Military Ranks
Naval Forces Land/Air Forces Commonwealth Air Forces
Admiral General Air Marshal
Commodore Brigadier Air Commodore
Captain Colonel Group Captain
Commander Lieutenant Colonel Wing Commander
Lieutenant Commander Major Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Captain Flight Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant Flying Officer
Warrant Officer Warrant Officer Warrant Officer
Petty Officer Sergeant Sergeant
Leading Rate Corporal Corporal
Seaman Private Aircraftman

An aircraftman or aircraftwoman, (also aircraftsman with "s"), is a member of an air force. When used as a rank, it indicates the basic rank of the air force.

Aircraftman (AC), or Aircraftwoman (ACW), is the lowest rank in the Royal Air Force, ranking below Leading Aircraftman and having a NATO rank code of OR-1. The rank was introduced on the formation of the RAF in 1918, replacing the Royal Flying Corps rank of Air Mechanic 2nd Class. There used to be two grades: Aircraftman 1st Class (AC1) and Aircraftman 2nd Class (AC2; also colloquially known as an "AC plonk"). There is no rank insignia associated with this rank.

In RAF slang, Aircraftmen are sometimes called "erks". The word "erk" is likely a phonetic spelling of an east-Londoner's pronunciation of the abbreviation, "airc".

In other countries, the rank use varies slightly. For example in the Royal New Zealand Air Force the rank is known as "Aircraftsman", regardless of the person's sex, in line with Seaman in the Royal New Zealand Navy. The spelling "Aircraftsman", despite being seen even in official documents, is incorrect in the RAF.

Flag of the United Kingdom

British Ratings and Other Ranks
  OR-1 OR-2 OR-3 OR-4 OR-5/OR-6 OR-7 OR-8 OR-9
Royal Navy: ORD - AB LH PO CPO WO2 WO1
Royal Marines: MNE LCpl Cpl Sgt CSgt WO2 WO1
Army: Pte Pte LCpl Cpl Sgt SSgt / CSgt WO2 WO1
Royal Air Force: AC LAC - SAC - Jnr Tech Cpl Sgt Chf Tech - FS WO / MAcr
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/i/r/Aircraftman.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.