The Chief of the Air Staff is the professional head of the Royal Air Force and a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The post was established with the formation of the RAF in 1918, and its first occupant, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Hugh Trenchard, was key in the establishment of the RAF as a separate service.

After Lord Trenchard retired in 1929 his successors still had to fight to keep the RAF separate from the Royal Navy and the British Army, but Trenchard's foundations proved to solid.

By the time World War II broke out in 1939, the then occupant of the post, Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, had a service that had been undergoing the most rapid of expansions during the British rearmament programs of the late 1930s. Newall gave way in 1940 to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, who lead the service for the rest of the war. Portal was a tireless defender of the RAF and extremely able in administration and strategy.

Postwar the RAF was reoriented to perform the dual roles of defending the shrinking British Empire and possibly fighting against the Soviet Union in a Warsaw Pact vs NATO war over Germany and the United Kingdom. The Chiefs of the Air Staff of the day had to fight a constant battle to keep the British aircraft industry alive. In the end only minimal success was achieved, with only a rump aviation industrial base left by the 1970s.

The present air threat to the United Kingdom itself is minimal compared with any time since the early 1930s. The RAF has therefore had to be reoriented to be an expeditionary force. The struggles against cuts continue, with many feeling that the RAF and the Chief of the Air Staff go too far in their zealous defence of air power and control over air assets. Nevertheless, the Chief of the Air Staff is a secure post for the foreseeable future.

Chiefs of the Air Staff Since 1918

• 3 Jan 1918 - Major General Sir Hugh Trenchard
• 13 Apr 1918 - Major General Sir Frederick Sykes
• 22 Jan 1919 - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Hugh Trenchard
• 1 Jan 1930 - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Salmond
• 1 Apr 1933 - Air Chief Marshal Sir William Salmond
• 28 Apr 1933 - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Salmond
• 22 May 1933 - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Ellington
• 1 Sep 1937 - Air Chief Marshal the Lord Newall
• 25 Oct 1940 - Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Lord Portal
• 1 Jan 1946 - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Tedder
• 1 Jan 1950 - Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor
• 1 Jan 1953 - Air Chief Marshal Sir William Dickson
• 1 Jan 1956 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle
• 1 Jan 1960 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike
• 1 Sep 1963 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy
• 1 Apr 1967 - Air Chief Marshal Sir John Grandy
• 1 Apr 1971 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Denis Spotswood
• 1 Apr 1974 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Humphrey
• 7 Aug 1976 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Neil Cameron
• 10 Aug 1977 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Beetham
• 15 Oct 1982 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Williamson
• 15 Oct 1985 - Air Chief Marshal Sir David Craig
• 14 Nov 1988 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Harding
• 6 Nov 1992 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon
• 10 Apr 1997 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns
• 21 Apr 2000 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire
• 1 Aug 2003 - Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup
• May 2006 - Air Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy (planned)