engineer commander Engineer Officer
Knighton was educated at Hatton Secondary School. As a University Cadet sponsored by the Royal Air force, he studied engineering at Clare College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1991 with a first class Bachelor of Arts (Bachelor) degree.
As per tradition, this was later promoted to a Master of Arts (Master of Arts Cantab) degree.
Since January 2015, he has served as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff. Knighton joined the Royal Air Force (Royal Air Force) in 1988. In his early career, he served as an engineer officer and worked on Nimrod and Tornado F3 aircraft.
He saw active service in the Kosovo War.
In 2006, he was appointed military assistant to the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Equipment Capability). He then served as Deputy Assistant Strategy and Plans at Air Command in 2007.
From 2009 to 2011, he served as Station Commander of Royal Air Force Wittering in 2009. In May 2011, Knighton was appointed Director of Air Plans at the Ministry of Defence.
Since January 2015, he has served as the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff.
As such, he is a member of the Air Force Board and also sits on the board of the Civil Aviation Authority as a non-executive member.
