The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 letter word M I A F
M
I
A
F
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "In brief, rank of military aviator who recently departed" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case in brief, rank of military aviator who recently departed = m i a f.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.