Air Marshal Sir Richard John Kemball, (31 January 1939 – 13 June 2021) was a

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 who served as Deputy Commander of Strike Command.

RAF career

Kemball was commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1957. He was appointed

Officer Commanding The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually giv ...

No. 54 Squadron in 1976 and became Station Commander at

RAF Laarbruch Royal Air Force , more commonly known as RAF ICAO EDUL (from 1 January 1995 ETUL) was a Royal Air Force station, a military airfield, located in Germany on its border with the Netherlands. The Station's motto was . The site now operates ...

in 1978. He went on to be Commandant of the RAF

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school in the world. The sch ...

in 1983 and Commander of British Forces on the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

in 1985 before becoming Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Strike Command in 1989. During the

First Gulf War The Gulf War (1990–1991) was an armed conflict between Iraq and a multinational military coalition led by the United States, triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Persian Gulf War may also refer to: * Shatt al-Arab conflict ...

, Kemball was chief of staff and deputy commander-in-chief at the British Joint Force Headquarters. He retired in 1993. In retirement, he became Chief Executive of the Racing Welfare Charity, Chairman of Essex Rivers NHS Healthcare Trust and

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

in 2007.Deputy Lieutenants of the County of Suffolk
Suffolk County Council He died on 13 June 2021.

References

1939 births 2021 deaths Royal Air Force air marshals of the Gulf War Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy lieutenants of Suffolk High sheriffs of Suffolk {{RAF-bio-stub