Air Marshal Sir Christopher Charles Cotton Coville, (born 2 June 1945) is a British retired senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

commander.

Early life and education

Coville was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

to Henry Coville and Anna Moss. He was educated at De La Salle Grammar School for Boys in Liverpool, followed by

Royal Air Force College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is resp ...

and

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

RAF career

Coville joined the Royal Air Force in 1964, at the height of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

.Speakers
Bridge Cruises Early in his career he flew Lightnings and F4 Phantoms. He assumed command of No. 111 (Fighter) Squadron in 1983, and then became Group Captain Air at Headquarters No. 11 Group. In 1986 he became Station Commander at

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and h ...

, where he flew Tornado F3 and displayed

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

and Spitfires on the

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force Flight (military unit), flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber and two fighters, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurr ...

. Promoted to

air vice marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...

, he became Air Officer Commanding Training Units in 1992, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff Operational Requirements (Air Systems) in 1994 and Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe in 1998. In 2000 his NATO command was absorbed into the Regional Headquarters Allied Forces North Europe of which Coville became the Deputy Commander-in-Chief. In March 2001 he became the

Air Member for Personnel An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Personnel and Training Command. He retired in 2003. Coville was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

. In retirement he was appointed Chairman of

Westland Helicopters Westland Helicopters was a British aircraft manufacturer. Originally Westland Aircraft, the company focused on helicopters after the Second World War. It was amalgamated with several other British firms in 1960 and 1961. In 2000, it merged ...

Personal life

He married Irene Johnson in 1967, and they have one son, named Peter, and two daughters, named Nicky and Teresa. Peter had a child named Leo, Teresa had three children named Jack, Sadie and Lucy, and Nicky had three children named Soren, Metta and Tara. Chris is a keen glider pilot and active in his local gliding club.

References

, - , - 1945 births Living people Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Croxteth Royal Air Force air marshals Military personnel from Liverpool 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel 21st-century Royal Air Force personnel Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society {{RAF-bio-stub