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Group captain (Gp Capt orG/C) is asenior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from theRoyal Air Force.[1] The rank is used by air forces of manycountries that have historical British influence.
Group captain is immediately senior towing commander and immediately belowair commodore. It is equivalent to the rank ofcaptain in the navy and ofcolonel in other services.
The equivalent rank in theWomen's Auxiliary Air Force,Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force,Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968) andPrincess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was "group officer".
The rank was used in theRoyal Canadian Air Force until the 1968unification of the Canadian Forces, when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian group captains then becamecolonels. In officialCanadian French usage, the rank title wascolonel d'aviation.[2]
| Group captain | |
|---|---|
 Command flag | |
 Shoulder and sleeve insignia | |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Service branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Abbreviation | Gp Capt |
| NATOrank code | OF-5 |
| Formation | 1 April 1918 (1918-04-01) |
| Next higher rank | Air commodore |
| Next lower rank | Wing commander |
| Equivalent ranks | |
On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from theBritish Army, withRoyal Naval Air Service captains andRoyal Flying Corps colonels becoming colonels in the RAF. In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own rank titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use theRoyal Navy's officer ranks, with the word "air" inserted before the naval rank title. For example, the rank that later became group captain would have been "air captain". Although theAdmiralty objected to this simple modification of their rank titles, it was agreed that the RAF might base many of its officer rank titles on naval officer ranks with differing pre-modifying terms. It was also suggested that RAF colonels might be entitled "bannerets" or "leaders". However, the rank title based on the Navy rank was preferred and as RAF colonels typically commandedgroups the rank title group captain was chosen. The rank of group captain was introduced in August 1919[3] and has been used continuously since then.
Although in the early years of the RAFgroups were normally commanded by group captains, by the mid-1920s they were usually commanded by anair officer.
In the post-World War II period the commander of an RAF flyingstation or a major ground training station has typically been a group captain. More recently,expeditionary air wings have also been commanded by group captains.
The rank insignia is based on the four gold bands of captains in the Royal Navy, comprising four narrow light blue bands over slightly wider black bands. This is worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform. Group captains are the first rank in the RAF hierarchy to wear gold braid on the peak of their cap, informally known as 'scrambled egg'; however, they still wear the standard RAF officer's cap badge.
The command pennant for a group captain is similar to the one for a wing commander except that there is one broad red band in the centre. Only the wing commander and group captain command pennants are triangular in shape.
![(Ghana Air Force)[6]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a12.Ghana_Air_Force-COL.svg)
![(Namibian Air Force)[8]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a12-Namibia_Air_Force-GPCAPT.svg)
![(Nigerian Air Force)[9]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aNigeria-AirForce-OF-5.svg)
![(Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard)[12]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTaT-Air_Guard-OF-5.png)
![(Air Force of Zimbabwe)[13]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCanadian_Air_Command_(1984-2014)_OF-5.svg)
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