The Royal Air Force came into existence on the 1st of April 1918 through a merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. Parliament passed the Air Force (Constitution) Act on the 23rd of November 1917 before King George V gave his royal assent on the 29th of November 1917.
During the Battle of Britain in 1940, the Royal Air Force defended skies over Britain against a numerically superior German opponent. This prolonged campaign delayed Hitler's plans for Operation Sea Lion indefinitely while more than 1,100,000 personnel served in the service by the end of the war.
On the 16th of February 1960, the British Government elected to share the country's nuclear deterrent between the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy submarines. The strategic nuclear deterrent passed to navy submarines on the 30th of June 1969 following Polaris development after the RAF initially concentrated solely on the V bomber fleet.
The Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 is the Royal Air Force's primary multi-role air defence and ground attack fighter aircraft. It followed the retirement of the Panavia Tornado F3 in late March 2011 and made its first air-to-air kill in December 2021 near Al-Tanf base in Syria.
Air Command manages the Royal Air Force and is based at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Headquarters Air Command formed on the 1st of April 2007 by combining RAF Strike Command and RAF Personnel and Training Command.