Commander of the Brazilian Air Force

The Commander of the Brazilian Air Force (Brazilian Portuguese: Comandante da Aeronáutica, lit. 'Aeronautics Commander') is the head of the Brazilian Air Force and the leader of its Aeronautics Command (Comando da Aeronáutica or COMAer). The Commander holds the rank of Tenente-Brigadeiro-do-Ar (lit. Air Lieutenant Brigadier, a 4 star rank), is appointed by the president and reports directly to the Brazilian Minister of Defence. Prior to mid-1999 the Air Force was run by a military Ministry of Aeronautics.^[1]

Commander of the Brazilian Air Force
Comandante da Aeronáutica
Flag of the Commander of the Brazilian Air Force
Incumbent Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno since 1 January 2023; 2 years ago (2023-01-01)
Brazilian Air Force
Style	Tenente-Brigadeiro-do-Ar
Member of	Joint Staff of the Armed Forces
Reports to	Minister of Defence
Appointer	President of Brazil
Formation	20 January 1941
First holder	Joaquim Pedro Salgado Filho

Third and Fourth Brazilian Republics

Main articles: Third Brazilian Republic and Fourth Brazilian Republic

No	Name	Start	Finish	President
1	Joaquim Pedro Salgado Filho	20 January 1941	30 October 1945	Getúlio Vargas
2	Armando Trompowsky	30 October 1945	31 January 1946	José Linhares
		31 January 1946	31 January 1951	Eurico Dutra
3	Nero Moura	31 January 1951	18 August 1954	Getúlio Vargas
4	Epaminondas Gomes dos Santos	18 August 1954	24 August 1954
5	Eduardo Gomes	24 August 1954	11 November 1955	Café Filho
6	Vasco Alves Seco	11 November 1955	31 January 1956	Nereu Ramos
		31 January 1956	20 March 1956	Juscelino Kubitschek
7	Henrique Fleiuss	20 March 1956	30 July 1957
8	Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo	30 July 1957	1 February 1961
9	Gabriel Grün Moss	1 February 1961	8 September 1961	Jânio Quadros
10	Clóvis Monteiro Travassos	8 September 1961	7 September 1961	Ranieri Mazzilli
		7 September 1961	17 September 1962	João Goulart
11	Reinaldo Joaquim Ribeiro de Carvalho Filho	17 September 1962	14 June 1963
12	Anísio Botelho	14 June 1963	4 April 1964

Military dicatorship (Fifth Brazilian Republic)

Main article: Fifth Brazilian Republic

No	Name	Start	Finish	President
13	Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo	4 April 1964	15 April 1964	Ranieri Mazzilli
14	Nélson Freire Lavanére-Wanderley	20 April 1964	15 December 1964	Castelo Branco
15	Márcio Melo	15 December 1964	11 January 1965
16	Eduardo Gomes	11 January 1965	15 March 1967
17	Márcio Melo	15 March 1967	31 August 1969	Costa e Silva
		31 August 1969	30 October 1969	Military Junta of 1969
		30 October 1969	29 November 1971	Emílio Médici
18	Joelmir Campos de Araripe Macedo	15 March 1971	15 March 1974
		15 March 1974	15 March 1979	Ernesto Geisel
19	Délio Jardim de Matos	15 March 1979	15 March 1985	João Figueiredo

Sixth Brazilian Republic

Main article: Sixth Brazilian Republic

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	President
20		Lima, OctávioOctávio Júlio Moreira Lima [pt] (1926–2011)	15 March 1985	15 March 1990	5 years, 0 days	José Sarney
21		Monteiro, SócratesSócrates da Costa Monteiro [pt] (1930–2019)	15 March 1990	1 October 1992	2 years, 200 days	Fernando Collor
22		Lobo, LélioLélio Viana Lobo [pt] (born 1931)	6 October 1992	31 December 1994	2 years, 86 days	Itamar Franco
23		Gandra, MauroMauro José Miranda Gandra [pt] (1933–2018)	1 January 1995	20 November 1995	323 days	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
(22)		Lobo, LélioLélio Viana Lobo [pt] (born 1931)	20 November 1995	4 January 1999	3 years, 45 days	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
24		Bräuer, WalterWalter Werner Bräuer [pt] (1937–2018)	4 January 1999	10 June 1999	157 days	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Commander of the Air Force Comandante da Aeronáutica[1]
(24)		Bräuer, WalterWalter Werner Bräuer [pt] (1937–2018)	10 June 1999	21 December 1999	194 days	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
25		Baptista, CarlosCarlos de Almeida Baptista (1937–2018)	21 December 1999	31 December 2002	3 years, 10 days	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
26		Bueno, LuizLuiz Carlos da Silva Bueno [pt] (1940–2023)	1 January 2003	28 February 2007	4 years, 58 days	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
27		Saito, JunitiJuniti Saito (born 1942)	1 March 2007	29 January 2015	7 years, 334 days	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Dilma Rousseff
28		Rossato, NivaldoNivaldo Luiz Rossato (born 1951)	30 January 2015	4 January 2019	3 years, 340 days	Dilma Rousseff Michel Temer
29		Bermudez, AntonioAntonio Carlos Moretti Bermudez (born 1956)	4 January 2019	30 March 2021	2 years, 85 days	Jair Bolsonaro
30		Baptista , CarlosCarlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior (born 1960)	12 April 2021	2 January 2023	1 year, 265 days	Jair Bolsonaro
31		Damasceno, MarceloMarcelo Kanitz Damasceno (born 1963)	2 January 2023	Incumbent	2 years, 215 days	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva