RAF Centenary

The Royal Air Force was created on 1 April 1918, with the amalgamation of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps, to create a separate service which would combat the German air attacks on cities in the UK. During 2018, the RAF marked its centenary as well as the commemoration of the end of the First World War, and created a centenary programme of events across Wales to honour and remember the previous 100 years, ranging from parades and flypasts, to historical exhibitions and STEM and history events with Welsh schoolchildren.

As it was Welsh Prime Minister David Lloyd George who made the momentous decision to create the RAF, the world’s first independent air force, it was fitting for this to be recognised and celebrated at an event at the David Lloyd George Museum at Llanystumdwy, north Wales, with exhibitions and a flypast of RAF aircraft. An anthology of historical documents relating to the creation of the RAF, together with a RAF Centenary Memorial Garden, were also presented by the RAF to the Lloyd George Museum.

Left: The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier and the Lord Lieutenant of Gwynedd, Mr Edmund Bailey, opening an RAF Centenary Garden at the David Lloyd George Museum in Llanystumdwy © MOD / Crown copyright