RAF Music Services Timeline.
While every effort has been made to confirm the accuracy the entries in this timeline would anyone who knows a mistake has been made or knows of events which should be added please email comments to webmaster@rafmusic.co.uk.
10th April 1918
Major Walford Davies given task of organizing formal music in the RAF. Formation of four bands of twenty four approved. However this is reduced to by Director of Manpower to fifty musicians drawn from the young, old and medically down-graded. Walford Davies countered this set-back by using the fifty as Band Instructors trained by a newly formed RAF School of Music who were sent to train and organise the existing Voluntary Bands. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
Spring 1918
The Blanford Band are the first Airmen to be issued the new bule uniforms. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
02 July 1918
RAF School of Music Formed at a previously empty house 1 Fitzjohns Avenue Hampstead.
July 1918
The first of five wartime bands established at Blanford and immediately sent to France to entertain the troops. The five bands which are established during this late stage of the war are all disbanded by late 1919.
12 July 1918
Only ten days after its formation the School of Music Band supplemented by the Blanford Band performed at Buckingham Palace. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
October 1918
The RAF March Past by Walford Davies has its first public performance at a concert in Exmouth. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
February 1919
Major Walford Davies, the first Organising Director of Music, retires. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
February 1919
Major Dyson takes the Reins. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
1919
Major Dyson Adds the Trio to the RAF March Past. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
December 1919
Major Dyson Lays the Foundation Stone. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
01 April 1920
The Band of the Royal Air Force College and The Central Band of the Royal Air Force are established with the later including the School of Music and Headquarters functions.
22 April 1922
the Central Band was chosen to be the first ever military band to broadcast on BBC radio from Marconi House.
1923
The Band of the Royal Air Force College travelled to Wales and became the first military Band to broadcast from BBC Cardiff.
26 April 1923
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force and The Salon Orchestra of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force wear the new full dress uniform in public for the first time. The occasion was the wedding of The Duke of York, later King George IV and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
July 1927
RAF Musicians take part in the Royal Tournament for the first time.
July 1930
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force perform by Royal Command at Buckingham Palace for the first time.
28th January 1936
RAF Bands take part in the funeral procession of King George V in London.
1937
Royal Air Force forms its own Symphony Orchestra which reached its peak during the war years. Such was the influx of musicians during the war that it is believed that no orchestral promoter or agent would ever have been able to afford the line-up of this Orchestra if it had ever appeared in public as a civilian Orchestra.
1939 – 1945
The start of the second World War sees a change in the role of RAF Bands. The Bands are used extensively for moral boosting parades and concerts both at home and abroad often marching through recently bombed areas.
1939
The second section of the Central Band proceeded to France to take up duties with the Advanced Air Striking Force for 6 months and formed the 2nd British Expeditionary Force Band. The plan was to rotate every 6 months, and The Band of the Royal Air Force College was due to take over in France in the November of 1940 with the returning 2nd BEF Band taking up duty at Cranwell whilst The Band of the Royal Air Force College was in France. Following the German attack the Band escaped via Boulogne and disembarked at Dover on 20th May 1940 with all their instruments.
1940
15 RAF Musicians with Sqn Ldr O’Donnell travelled to France to join the 1st British Expeditionary Force band. They are pictured at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Paris
20 August 1942
The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment is formed at RAF Belton Park, Linconlshire from the old Coastal Command Band and named for the newly established RAF Regiment.
1945
During a performance at the Potsdam Conference by The RAF Symphony Orchestra, two 'guest artists', President Truman and Mr. Molotov join the orchestra playing piano on stage.
1949
The Salon Orchestra of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force formed from the remnants of the disbanded RAF Symphony Orchestra.
1946
The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment relocates to RAF Catterick.
1950
Under the direction of Wing Commander George Sims, the bands were reorganized on a geographical basis.
1953
RAF Bands take part in the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
April 1955
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force was also the first military band to make a long-playing gramophone record. In April 1955 HMV released a recording by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force of what is to this day the most requested piece in their repertoire - Eric Coates' music for the film 'The Dambusters'.
1972 December
The Central Band of the Womens Royal Air Force is disbanded.
1975
RAF Music Services as we know it today began in 1975 when all the Royal Air Force’s full-time bands were reorganised into ‘area’ bands and a School of Music, or Training Cell, controlled by HQ Music Services.
1982
Following a comment that RAF Bands only perform for Officers and SNCOs by a soldier in Belize the resident junior ranks were treated what we believe is the first ‘aquatic drill display’ by The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment. Following a later imitation by The Western Band of the RAF it took three men to retrieve one of the tubas from the bottom of the pool after it completely filled with water!
11 February 1985
Nineteen musicians of the Band of the RAF Germany lose their lives in a coach crash near Stuttgart Germany. This event is part of the collective memory of RAF Music Services and a well attended informal ceremony of remembrance is held at each band room every year.
1986
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force performs on the final transmission from the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios.
8th January 1987
Royal Air Force Squadronaires reform at RAF Uxbridge using existing The Central Band of the Royal Air Force personnel. The official launch was attended by several members of the original war time band of the same name.
26th January 1987
The Royal Air Force Music Services Association was officially formed to foster goodwill amongst everyone who enjoys military music and to keep alive the comradeship of the Royal Air Force Music Services.
1989
RAF Swing Wing, a twenty piece Big Band, forms at RAF Cranwell using existing Band of the Royal Air Force College personnel.
1989
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force performs on the last transmission from the BBC’s famous Pebble Mill Studios.
1990
The Royal Air Force becomes the first Service to recruit women into mixed bands and today females are recruited on the same basis as their male colleagues and form close to half of the personnel in some bands.
1990
'Salute to Heroes', released in 1990 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, sold over 60,000 copies in just two years and was awarded a silver disc.
1991
All RAF Music Services personnel from the UK deploy on active service as medical orderlies to Operation Granby, the 'first' Gulf War.
November 1994
The Band of RAF Germany Disbands. The musicians are distributed among the UK Bands with some taking voluntary redundancy.
20 Jul-02 Aug 1999
All the RAF Bands take part in the final Royal Tournament in Earls Court.
1999
Following a series of four relocations since the closure of RAF Catterick in 1994 The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment finally settles in its current home at RAF Cranwell.
1999
RAF Shades of Blue a twenty piece Big Band forms at RAF Cranwell using existing Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment personnel.
1999
‘TNT soul Explosion a six piece ‘blues and covers band’ is formed. Originally formed from Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment this popular group now uses personnel from both RAF Cranwell based bands.
09 April, 2002
RAF Bands take part in the funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
2003
Royal Air Force begins deploying individual musicians to support operations around the world. These roles include aircraft guards, whatchkeepers, packet or convoy commanders, air cargo, and passenger handling. The theatres currently being covered are IraqIraq, AfghanistanAfghanistan, The Balkans, and the Falkland IslandsFalkland Islands.
December 2003
The Royal Air Force Music Charitable Trust was formed and subsequently registered as a service charity with the Charity Commission in January 2004. The charity has provided donations and financial support to the Royal Air Forces Association, the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust through the support of various fund raising concerts throughout the United Kingdom and overseas.
28 August 2005
The Band of the Royal Air Force College under the baton of Squadron Leader David Compton becomes the first RAF Band to perform in Spain. The concert was arranged by the local branch of RAF Association and took place in an open air theatre in Benalmadena.
February 2010
The Band of the RAF College visits Australia. Click here for more informationClick here for more information
Spring 2010
The Central Band of the RAF and Headquarters RAF Music Services move to RAF Northolt.
September 2010
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force release their recording Reach for The Skies on the Decca label. The recording enters the charts at No.4 the highest chart entry by a military band. Click here for more information. The recording is exceptionally well received by critics and public alike and strong sales result in its being nominated for a Classical Brit Award. Click here for more information
29 April 2011
The Central Band of the RAF takes part in the wedding of HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton with the Fanfare team taking centre stage in the ceremony itself. Click here for more information
29 April 2011
RAF Music Services unveils its new Ceremonial Cap which replaces the Busby. Click here for more information
September 2011
The Central Band of the RAF visits Canada. Click here for more information