motivational speaker Squadron Leader
He attended the independent Churcher"s College in east Hampshire, leaving in 1980. He attended the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (commonly known as University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, now part of the University of Manchester since 2004), gaining a Bachelor of Science in Building Technology in 1983. He later graduated with an Master of Business Administration from the University of Leicester.
By the age of 17, he had his pilot"s licence. He was an Royal Air Force university cadet, joining the Royal Air Force in 1980, training at Royal Air Force Woodvale with the Manchester and Salford University Air Squadron. After his Royal Air Force training, he was based at Royal Air Force Chivenor and Royal Air Force Lossiemouth.
He became a staff pilot in 1987 at the Air Navigation School (ANS) of Number.
6 Flying Training School at Royal Air Force Finningley. In 1988, he moved to XV Squadron at Royal Air Force Laarbruch after converting to the Tornado GR1 when a Flight Lieutenant.
Gulf War On his first mission during Operation Desert Storm when aged 29, an ultra-low level daylight mission on Ar Rumaylah airfield, while acting as number two to Squadron Leader Paul "Pablo" Mason, his Panavia Tornado ZD 791 of XV Squadron was hit at fifty feet by a shoulder-launched SAM Société Anonyme-14, and he was captured by the military of Iraq. After capture he was shown, bruised and apparently beaten, on television
He received around 15,000 letters from well-wishers.
Instructor Having been at Royal Air Force Brüggen, he moved to Royal Air Force Cottesmore (then in Leicestershire) in 1993, becoming an instructor on the TTTE. He graduated with an Master of Business Administration from the University of Leicester Management Centre, with his dissertation being The Challenge of Change in the Royal Air Force. He became a Squadron Leader in 1997, moving to Turkey, and left the Royal Air Force after 18 years. Independent October 2004 Independent August 1993.
