Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
King George V version
Awarded by the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India
Country	United Kingdom
Type	Military long service medal
Eligibility	Air Force Other Ranks Conditionally to officers from 1947
Awarded for	18 years service until 1977 15 years service from 1977
Status	Current
Statistics
Established	1919
First awarded	October 1919
Order of wear
Next (higher)	Royal Air Force Meritorious Service Medal (1918–1928)
Next (lower)	Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Ulster Defence Regiment)
Ribbon Bar

The Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King George V in 1919, the year following the establishment of the world's first independent Air Force. The medal could be awarded to Regular Force non-commissioned officers and airmen of the Royal Air Force. The award criteria was later relaxed to also allow the award of the medal to officers who had served a minimum period in the ranks before being commissioned.

In the complex British honours system, there were distinct awards for officers and men for each service arm, Navy, Army and Air Force, and for each type of service, Regular Force or Reserve components. Regular Force officers were not eligible for any long service awards since, as they held a commission, they were expected to serve honourably and for a long period of time. Reserve Force officers were eligible for various long service decorations that granted them the use of post-nominal letters, while Reserve Force other ranks were eligible for various long service and good conduct medals, but without post-nominals.

The birth of modern aerial warfare during the First World War led to the establishment of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, as a third Service Arm independent of the British Army and the Royal Navy and as the world's first Air Force. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps of the Army and the Royal Naval Air Service of the Navy.

Regular Force other ranks of the new "junior service" had earlier been eligible for the award of either the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal or the Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1848), depending on their service of origin. In the year following the establishment of the Royal Air Force, on 1 July 1919, the Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King George V, and the first awards of the medal were announced in October 1919.

When it was instituted, the medal could be awarded to Regular Force Royal Air Force non-commissioned officers and airmen after eighteen years of unblemished service. The qualifying period was reduced to fifteen years with effect from 1 December 1977.