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 countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

Ronald Dick, (18 October 1931 – 25 March 2008) 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 Head of the British Defence Staff in Washington, D.C. from 1984 to 1988.

RAF career

Educated at Beckenham and Penge County Grammar School, Dick joined the

as 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 ...

in January 1950. He became officer commanding

No. 9 Squadron RAF Number 9 Squadron (also known as No. IX (Bomber) Squadron or No. IX (B) Squadron) is the oldest dedicated bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force. Formed in December 1914, it saw service throughout the First World War, including at the Somme and ...

flying Vulcan bombers in 1970. He went on to be Junior Air Force Member on the staff of 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 1972, Personal Staff Officer to the Deputy

Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

in 1974 and station commander at

RAF Honington Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. It was used as a bomber station during the Second World War and through the Cold War, hosting Han ...

in 1978. After that he became Air

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1980 in which role he negotiated US support for British air operations during

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

in 1982. His last appointments were as Director of Organisation and Establishments in 1983, as Director of Quartering in 1984 and as Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C., in 1984 before retiring in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, Ronald 1931 births 2008 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society People educated at Beckenham and Penge County Grammar School Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air Royal Air Force air marshals Air attachés for the United Kingdom