Royal Air Forces Association
| Founded | 1929 |
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| 226686 (England & Wales) SC037673 (Scotland) |
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Key people
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| Mission | The Royal Air Forces Association is committed to providing confidential, professional and fair services to members of the wider RAF family from the youngest recruit to the oldest veteran and their families. On-going training and support for welfare volunteers and staff ensures services are consistent and of the highest possible standard. All will be treated with dignity and respect at all times. |
| Website | www |
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Formerly called
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Comrades of the Royal Air Forces |
The Royal Air Forces Association (also called RAF Association or RAFA) is the largest single Service membership organisation and the longest standing registered service charity that provides welfare support to the RAF Family - providing friendship, help and support to current and former members of the Royal Air Force and their dependants.
The RAF Association currently has a membership of over 65,500 includes serving RAF personnel, veterans and non-service individuals. With a UK-wide caseworker network of over 540 volunteer Welfare Officers undertaking over 68,000 welfare contacts annually, help ranges from simply providing conversation and friendship to preparing and submitting application forms for financial assistance.
In 1929, in the Sergeants’ Mess at RAF Andover, three men named Vernon Goodhand, Joe Pearce and Warrant Officer Bartlett met to discuss the formation of a single organisation dedicated to the welfare of serving and ex-serving RAF personnel: one which would replace the many smaller organisations that had grown to keep former servicemen in touch since the end of the First World War.
By 1930 a provisional committee had been formed called "Comrades of the Royal Air Forces Association" and the first general meeting of the new organisation took place at the Queen’s Hotel, Leicester Square, London. Air Ministry support for the Comrades came in 1933 when the Air Council officially recognised the organisation and Lord Trenchard accepted the Presidency.
Throughout the early 1930s the new Association made rapid progress, establishing benevolent schemes and distributing Christmas hampers to unemployed members. Then, in 1936, King George VI gave his patronage – and the Association has been honoured with Royal patronage ever since.
Following the outbreak of war in 1939, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force reformed, and the Women's Royal Air Force Old Comrades Association (created in 1919) opened its membership to all ranks of the new female air service. In 1941, the two Old Comrades organisations for airmen and airwomen merged, resulting in a combined membership of nearly 20,000.
By 1943, with more than a million serving in the RAF, the organisation’s name was changed to the Royal Air Forces Association. A National Council, under the chairmanship of Air Chief Marshal Sir John Steel was formed to replace the Central committee of CRAFA.
The foundations of the charity’s present structure were laid during the remaining wartime years, and the Association was fully prepared for the consequences of demobilisation, which began in 1945.
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Wikipedia