On 17 May 2024, thousands of spectators gathered in front of Buckingham Palace to see the King’s Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force and colour parties from nine Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF) squadrons celebrate 100 years of volunteer reserve service in the RAF by taking part in a unique parade.
The Sovereign’s Colour of the RAuxAF was was marched before the HRH Duke of Gloucester (Honorary Air Commodore in Chief of the RAuxAF), followed by the Squadron Standards of 502 (Ulster) Squadron, 600 (City of London) Squadron, 601 (County of London) Squadron, 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, 605 (County of Warwickshire) Squadron, 2503 (City of Lincoln) Squadron, 2620 (County of Norfolk) Squadron, 2622 (Highland) Squadron, 2623 (East Anglian) Squadron, and led by the Band of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force from RAF Cranwell.
This is the first time that the Sovereign’s Colour of the RAuxAF has been paraded at Buckingham Palace and all the participating personnel have been rehearsing hard for the prestigious event. The new RAuxAF military march was premiered before the His Royal Highness and its composer, Squadron Leader Sellers, Director of Music of the Band of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
“It has been a real honour to have had the chance to write this march at such an important time in the history of our service. When the RAuxAF was formed its members were flying bi-planes, now the RAuxAF is recruiting people from civilian life to serve in the RAF’s Reserve space and cyber flights and this march celebrates the journey the RAuxAF has come on and will continue as we look forward to another 100 years!”
Squadron Leader Sellers, Director of Music of the Band of the Royal Auxiliary Air force
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force is the reserve element of the Royal Air Force whose members contribute their spare time service to the defence of this country. It can trace its roots back to the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) and RAF Special Reserve founded in 1924 to provide trained personnel to support the RAF wherever it is deployed.
The first squadron, No. 502 (Ulster), was established in May 1925. All unit’s identities were firmly fixed to the cities, counties and regions of the UK, and other squadrons were formed later that year in Glasgow, London and Edinburgh.
The 1924 founder of the RAF, Lord Trenchard, believed the Reserves should capture a sense of adventure and that spirit was very much in evidence from the earliest days when, in 1933, two pilots of No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Sqn, were the first to fly an aircraft over Mount Everest.
Today, people are joining the RAuxAF to lend their civilian experience, skills and expertise to the RAF in such diverse fields as medicine, media, intelligence, music, cyber and even space as this year saw the first RAuxAF Space Flights stand-up to support the work of UK Space Command. The service has clearly come a long way in 100 years and is as important and relevant today as ever it was to the defence of our nation’s interests.
