A marshal of the air force can be properly considered equivalent to an army
marshal or
field marshal in many countries, as well as the naval rank of
admiral of the fleet. That is, marshal of the air force is a
five-star rank and in
NATO countries it is described by the ranking code of
OF-10. As such a senior rank, it is very seldom held. It is awarded either in a ceremonial capacity to heads of state, to members of royal families, or to the most senior officers in large air forces. In the Air Force of Australia, India, Thailand and the United Kingdom, "Marshals of the Air Force" are immediately senior to
Air Chief Marshals. In the case of New Zealand, although the rank of Marshal of the Royal New Zealand Air Force has been bestowed, no
Royal New Zealand Air Force officer has attained higher rank than
Air Marshal and the New Zealand rank of Air Chief Marshal only exists on paper. A similar situation to the one in New Zealand also existed in
Malaysia until the 1970s when the
Royal Malaysian Air Force replaced its
air-officer ranks with
general-officer ranks, although it retained the rank of Marshal of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The rank of Marshal of the Royal Canadian Air Force was never granted. During Germany's Nazi period, the
Luftwaffe (Air Force), in common with the
Heer (Army), used the rank of
generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal), which was equivalent to
großadmiral (Grand Admiral) in the Navy.
Generalfeldmarschall was immediately senior to
generaloberst (Colonel General) and it was the most senior German Air Force and Army rank until the promotion of
Hermann Göring, the Commander of the Luftwaffe, to the even higher rank of
reichsmarschall (Imperial Marshal or Marshal of the Realm) in July 1940. The German ranks of
reichsmarschall and
generalfeldmarschall ceased to exist with the fall of the
Third Reich. ==Insignia and distinguishing flags==