First Woman to be made Air Vice-Marshal within the RAF
September 2016, Officers Mess, RAF High Wycombe
b.1961, Cumbria
In 2013, Senior RAF Officer Air Vice-Marshal Elaine West became the most senior female officer in the British Armed Forces. At the age of 53, she was awarded a non-honorary Air Vice Marshal becoming the first woman ever to hold two-star rank in nearly 100 years since the RAF formed in 1918. To date, around 14% of the RAF are women.