Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British i ...

Sir Michael John Armitage, (25 August 1930 – 25 December 2022) was a British 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.

RAF career

Educated at Newport Grammar School on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, Armitage joined the Royal Air Force's Aircraft Apprentice Scheme at RAF Halton in 1947.Debrett's People of Today 1994 As one of the top students to graduate from the aircraft apprentice scheme, Armitage was offered a cadetship to Cranwell, and he became a pilot, his first posting upon graduation in 1953 was on 28 Sqn at

RAF Kai Tak Royal Air Force Kai Tak or more commonly RAF Kai Tak is a former Royal Air Force station situated in Hong Kong, at Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon. It was established by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1927 and used for seaplanes. The RAF flight opera ...

. He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 17 Squadron in 1967 and Station Commander at RAF Luqa in 1972. He was then Director of Forward Policy in 1976, Deputy Commander of RAF Germany in 1978 and Senior RAF Representative on the Directing Staff at the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest leve ...

in 1980. He went on to be Director of Service Intelligence in 1982, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Intelligence) in 1983 and Chief of Defence Intelligence in 1984. Finally he became Air Member for Supply and Organisation in 1985, Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1988 before retiring in 1990.

Personal life and death

Following the dissolution of his first marriage he married Gretl Renate Steinig in 1970. He and his wife were active members of the Bath and County Club. Armitage died on 25 December 2022, at the age of 92.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Armitage, Michael 1930 births 2022 deaths Royal Air Force air marshals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Trenchard Brats Place of birth missing