Allegiance United Kingdom Rank Air chief marshal | Name John Cheshire Years of service 1961–2000 | |
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Born 4 September 1942 (age 82) ( 1942-09-04 ) Commands held Allied Forces Northwestern EuropeRAF Lyneham Awards Order of the British Empire, Order of the Bath | ||
John cheshire in panama city
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Anthony Cheshire (born 4 September 1942) is a retired senior Royal Air Force commander.
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John cheshire on directed energy weapons
RAF career
Born the son of Group Captain (later Air Chief Marshal Sir) Walter Cheshire and educated at Ipswich School and Worksop College, Cheshire joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet at the RAF College Cranwell in 1961. He was commissioned as a pilot officer on 17 December 1963, and was successively promoted to flying officer (17 December 1964) and to flight lieutenant (17 June 1966). He was promoted to squadron leader on 1 July 1971, and to wing commander on 1 July 1977.
In the late 1970s he served as Commander of the Special Forces Flight and then joined the Air Plans Directorate of the Ministry of Defence. He was appointed Commander of the Air Wing in Brunei in 1980, for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1982 Birthday Honours list. He became the Station Commander at RAF Lyneham in 1982 and, after his promotion to group captain on 1 July, Group Captain Contingency Plans at Headquarters United Kingdom Air Forces. He went on to be air attache in Moscow in 1987, and was promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1988. He became Deputy Commandant of the RAF Staff College, Bracknell in 1990, and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 New Year Honours list. He was promoted to air vice marshal on 1 January 1992, and appointed Assistant Chief of Staff Policy and Requirements at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. As an acting air marshal, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1994 New Year Honours list. He was knighted a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1995 New Year Honours list, and promoted to air marshal on 23 January 1995. Appointed UK Military Representative to NATO in 1995, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Northwestern Europe on 11 March 1997, with a promotion to air chief marshal. He retired in 2000.
In retirement Cheshire was the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey from 24 January 2001 to 7 April 2006 when his term of office ended. He was appointed chairman of the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust in July 2008.