An RAF Long Service Good Conduct Medal King George Vith

Named and nicely toned patina. The Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King George V in 1919, the year following the establishment of the world's first independent Air Force. The medal could be awarded to Regular Force non-commissioned officers and airmen of the Royal Air Force. The award criteria were later relaxed to also allow the award of the medal to officers who had served a minimum period in the ranks before being commissioned. The birth of modern aerial warfare during the First World War led to the establishment of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, as a third Service Arm independent of the British Army and the Royal Navy and as the world's first Air Force. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps of the Army and the Royal Naval Air Service of the Navy.345

Regular Force other ranks of the new "junior service" had earlier been eligible for the award of either the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal or the Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1848), depending on their service of origin. In the year following the establishment of the Royal Air Force, on 1 July 1919, the Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King George V, and the first awards of the medal were announced in October 1919

Code: 21199