Bombardier (/ˌbɒmbəˈdɪər/) is a military rank that has existed since the 16th century inartillery regiments of various armies, such as in theBritish Army and thePrussian Army. Traditionally the bombardier tended the vents at the top of breeches, handled the final assembly of ammunition and placed the ammunition in the muzzles for the gunners to fire.^[1] It is today equivalent to the rank ofcorporal in other branches.^[2] The rank of lance bombardier is the artillery counterpart oflance corporal.

Bombardier (Bdr) and lance bombardier (LBdr or L/Bdr) are used by theBritish Army in theRoyal Artillery andRoyal Horse Artillery. The same applies to theRoyal Australian Artillery, theRoyal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery, theSouth African Army Artillery Formation and theArmed Forces of Malta. TheRoyal Regiment of Canadian Artillery uses the ranks of master bombardier and bombardier, corresponding tomaster corporal and corporal.

Originally, the Royal Artillery had corporals, but not lance corporals. Unlike a lance corporal, a bombardier, who was junior to a corporal, held full non-commissioned rank and not an acting appointment. The rank was equivalent tosecond corporal in theRoyal Engineers andArmy Ordnance Corps.

In 1920 corporals were abolished in the Royal Artillery; bombardiers became the equivalent and acquired the normal two chevrons.

The rank of lance bombardier originated as acting bombardier, an appointment similar to lance corporal and also indicated by a single chevron. The appointment was renamed lance bombardier in February 1918. It became a full rank, along with lance corporal, in 1961.

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• List of comparative military ranks
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• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Bombardier".New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
  • "Bombardier".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.

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• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia
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