Commandant Air Cadets is the title given to the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 officer who is responsible for running the Air Cadet Organisation

Air Cadet Organisation

The Air Cadet Organisation is the collective name for the UK cadet forces sponsored by the Royal Air Force. The organisation is subordinate to No. 22 Group RAF, with a serving RAF officer as Commandant Air Cadets. The current Commandant is Air Commodore Barbara Cooper CBE...

, embracing the Air Training Corps

Air Training Corps

The Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...

 (ATC) and the RAF Sections of the Combined Cadet Force

Combined Cadet Force

The Combined Cadet Force is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance,...

 (CCF RAF). The current Commandant Air Cadets is Air Commodore Barbara Cooper.

Previously known as Commandant ATC, the appointment is now held by an RAF Air Commodore

Air Commodore

Air commodore is an air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 and is based at Headquarters Air Cadets (HQAC) at the RAF College Cranwell. Prior to the establishment of HQAC as an independent unit, the post of Commandant ATC was held by the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Reserve, Home and finally Flying Training Command. HQAC was formed 1 May 1960 within Flying Training Command.

The Commandant is responsible for over 900 units of the ATC, some 200 CCF (RAF) Sections and the nationwide network of Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS).

Until 24 March 2003, the Commandant Air Cadets also held the role of Air Officer Commanding Air Cadets, the appointment then passing to the Air Officer Commanding Training Group

Air Officer Commanding Training Group

Air Officer Commanding Training Group was the appointment held by the Royal Air Force Officer responsible for the Royal Air Force Training Group...

 (TG). The post has now been merged into the post of AOC TG and no longer exists as a separate entity.

AOC Air Cadets & Commandant ATC 1941 - 2003

• 5 Feb 1941 Air Commodore Sir John Chamier (Ret'd)
• 1 Feb 1944 Air Marshal Sir Leslie Gossage
  Leslie Gossage
  Air Marshal Sir Ernest Leslie Gossage KCB, CVO, DSO, MC . He was a former artillery officer who become a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps and later a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War...
  
   (Ret'd)
• 1946 - 1960 Appointments held by Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Reserve / Home / Flying Training Command.
• 1962 Air Commodore A G Dudgeon
• 14 Sep 1962 Air Commodore J B Coward
• 23 Jun 1966 Air Commodore E J Morris
• 18 Jun 1968 Air Commodore J N Stacey
• 17 Jul 1971 Air Commodore P O V Green
• 13 Oct 1973 Air Commodore T H Blackham
• 13 Jun 1977 Air Commodore M J E Swiney
• 15 Dec 1979 Air Commodore K J Goodwin
• 17 Apr 1982 Air Commodore P V Mayall
• 6 Jan 1986 Air Commodore P P W Taylor
• 5 Jan 1987 Air Commodore P G Naz
• Apr 1990 Air Commodore R P Skelley
• 23 Apr 1993 Air Commodore P M Stean
• 12 Jan 1996 Air Commodore J A F Ford
• 28 Mar 1998 Air Commodore John Kennedy
• 3 May 2002 Air Commodore Jon Chitty
  Jon Chitty
  Air Commodore Jon Chitty, OBE RAF, was Commandant of the Air Training Corps from 3 May 2002 until July 2005.-Biography:Air Commodore Jon Chitty was brought up and educated in Sheffield...
  
  

Air Officer Commanding Air Cadets 2003 - 2005

• 23 March 2003 Air Vice-Marshal David Walker
• 4 January 2005 Air Vice-Marshal John Ponsonby
  John Ponsonby (RAF)
  Air Vice Marshal John Maurice Maynard Ponsonby OBE, RAF was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He is now a senior executive.-British Army:...
  
  

Commandant Air Cadets 2003 - present

• 23 March 2003 Air Commodore Jon Chitty
  Jon Chitty
  Air Commodore Jon Chitty, OBE RAF, was Commandant of the Air Training Corps from 3 May 2002 until July 2005.-Biography:Air Commodore Jon Chitty was brought up and educated in Sheffield...
  
  
• July 2005 Air Commodore David Harrison
• 13 October 2006 Air Commodore Gordon Moulds
  Gordon Moulds
  Air Commodore Gordon Moulds, CBE is a Senior Royal Air Force Officer who recently finished a tour as Commander of Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.-Military career:...
  
   CBE
  Order of the British Empire
  The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
  
  
• 20 May 2008 Air Commodore Ian RW Stewart
• 1st June 2010 Air Commodore Barbara Cooper CBE
  Order of the British Empire
  The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...