Air Commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) 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 countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Ian Richard William Stewart is a retired British

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 ...

officer. His last posting was as the United Kingdom National Military Representative at

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. SHAPE is situated in the villag ...

. He was

Commandant Air Cadets Commandant Air Cadets is the title given to the Royal Air Force officer who is responsible for running the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, embracing the Air Training Corps (ATC) and the RAF Sections of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF RAF). The curre ...

between 2008 and 2010, and Air Commodore,

Royal Air Force Reserve The Regular Reserve is the component of the military reserve of the British Armed Forces whose members have formerly served in the "Regular" (full-time professional) forces. Other components of the Reserve are the Volunteer Reserves and the Sponsor ...

from 2014.

Early life

Stewart was educated at

St John's School, Leatherhead St John's School in Leatherhead, Surrey is a fully co-educational private school for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school offers day, weekly and flexible boarding for approximately 800 pupils. St John's was founded in 1851 to educate the sons of ...

, where he became a

Cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...

in the CCF (RAF) Section based there. He studied Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at

Southampton University The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the United K ...

as an Acting Pilot Officer with an RAF University Cadetship.

Military career

Having completed Officer Training at

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF Colleg ...

in 1980, he remained to complete basic flying training before moving on to

RAF Valley Royal Air Force Valley or more simply RAF Valley () is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both basic and advanced fast-jet training using the Beechcraft Texan T. ...

for advanced training. He was selected to become an instructor and after completing Central Flying School training at

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or more simply RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 19 ...

, he was posted to

RAF Linton-on-Ouse Royal Air Force Linton-on-Ouse or more simply RAF Linton-on-Ouse is a former Royal Air Force station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (Brit ...

in 1983 as a Qualified Flying Instructor where he flew over 1000 hours on the

Jet Provost The BAC Jet Provost is a British jet trainer aircraft that was in use with the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1993. It was originally developed by Hunting Percival from the earlier piston engine-powered Percival Provost basic trainer, and ...

basic trainer. In 1986 he converted to the Phantom FGR2 and served on 92 Squadron,

RAF Wildenrath Royal Air Force Station Wildenrath, commonly known as RAF Wildenrath, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) military airbase near Wildenrath in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that operated from 1952 to 1992. Wildenrath was the first of four 'clutch' ...

in Germany, as the Squadron Qualified Flying Instructor. He moved back to 228 Operational Conversion Unit at

RAF Leuchars Royal Air Force Leuchars or more simply RAF Leuchars is a former Royal Air Force station located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the station was home to fighter aircraft which policed northe ...

in 1989 before converting to fly the

Tornado F3 The Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) is a long-range, twin-engine swing-wing interceptor aircraft developed by the European Panavia Aircraft GmbH consortium. It was a specialised derivative of the multirole Panavia Tornado. Developme ...

. In 1992 he moved from Leuchars to

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 ...

and joined the Tornado F3 Operational Conversion Unit 56 (R) Squadron as a flight commander. In 1994 he joined the staff at 11 Group Headquarters at RAF Bentley Priory, serving on the Air Defence training desk. At the end of 1996 he completed the Joint Service Defence College course at Greenwich. He then commanded the Flying Training Development Wing at

RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...

where he was responsible for devising a training strategy for fast jet pilots. In 1999 he served in the Defence Crisis Management Centre in

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US * ...

as a

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

briefing officer and completed a short tour within the former Directorate of Public Relations (RAF). From April 2000 to October 2002 he was the Officer Commanding 56 (R) Squadron at RAF Coningsby. After achieving over 1000 flying hours on the

he joined the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood as the J5 Plans SO1 Deployable Liaison Officer, and was a member of the

Operation TELIC Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

planning staff responsible for the UK's contribution to Coalition operations in Iraq. In 2003 he was posted to

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force installation located in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany. It serves as the headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and NATO Alli ...

, Germany, where he served as the A3 Division Head and United Kingdom Senior National Representative within the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Component Command Air Headquarters. In early 2004 he served as Assistant Chief of Staff (Air) within the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan. Stewart is the Chairman of the 56 Squadron Association and the Chair of Trustees of the RAF Cranwell Kidzone Childcare Centre. He is also President of the civilian committee at 2185 (Wareham) Squadron and 2185 (Swanage) Detached Flight of the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

Royal Air Force Air Cadets The Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) is the combined volunteer-military youth organisation sponsored by the Royal Air Force, which is formed by both the Air Training Corps and RAF Sections of the Combined Cadet Force. The organisation is head ...

Senior appointments

He served as the head of the

Officer and Aircrew Cadet Training Unit 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 Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to air ...

from 2006 until May 2008. In May 2008, he became Commandant Air Cadets, replacing

Gordon Moulds Air Commodore Gordon Moulds, CBE DL is a retired Senior Royal Air Force Officer who held various commands including most recently Commander of Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. Military career Air Commodore Gordon Moulds joined the Royal Air Fo ...

. After two years as Commandant, Stewart handed over the baton of command to

Barbara Cooper in May 2010. Stewart assumed his appointment at

on 24 May 2010. He retired from the Royal Air Force on 22 November 2013 and was appointed Air Commodore,

in September 2014.

Personal life

He has been married to Rosemary since 1981 and they have three children: Chris, Mike and James. His interests include skiing, foreign travel and singing.

Honours and decorations

Stewart was awarded the

NATO Meritorious Service Medal The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem, Belgium. Ba ...

in 2006 for services to NATO. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

(FRAeS) in 2009 and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the East Riding of Yorkshire in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Ian People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead Royal Air Force Air Cadets Royal Air Force air commodores Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell Recipients of the NATO Meritorious Service Medal Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel 21st-century Royal Air Force personnel