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Squadron Leader John Peters (born 1961) is a former pilot of the Royal Air Force (RAF).
| The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies .(April 2021) |
Squadron Leader John Peters (born 1961) is a former pilot of the Royal Air Force (RAF).
He attended the independent Churcher's College in east Hampshire, leaving in 1980.
By the age of 17, he had his pilot's licence. He attended the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (commonly known as UMIST, now part of the University of Manchester since 2004), gaining a BSc in Building Technology in 1983. He was an RAF university cadet, joining the RAF in 1979, training at RAF Woodvale with the Manchester and Salford Universities Air Squadron. He later graduated with an MBA from the University of Leicester.
After his RAF training, he was based at RAF Chivenor, RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Laarbruch.
He became a staff pilot in 1987 at the Air Navigation School (ANS) of No. 6 Flying Training School at RAF Finningley. In 1988, he moved to XV Squadron at RAF Laarbruch after converting to the Tornado GR1 as a Flight Lieutenant.
On his first mission during Operation Desert Storm, aged 29, an ultra-low level daylight mission on Ar Rumaylah Southwest Air Base, while acting as number two to Squadron Leader Paul "Pablo" Mason, his Panavia Tornado GR.1' of XV Squadron was hit at fifty feet by a shoulder-launched SAM SA-14, and he and his navigator (John Nichol) were captured by the military of Iraq. [1] After capture he was shown, bruised and beaten, on television. [2]
He received around 25,000 letters from well-wishers following the appearance. He said that he was "treated very specially" as a result of his experiences and found it difficult to live up to the image the public had of him. [3] At the end of the war he was released and returned to the RAF for a further ten years.
Having been at RAF Brüggen, he moved to RAF Cottesmore in 1993, becoming an instructor on the TTTE. He graduated with an MBA from the University of Leicester Management Centre, with his dissertation being The Challenge of Change in the Royal Air Force[ citation needed ].
He became a Squadron Leader in 1997, moving to Turkey, and left the RAF after 18 years.
Following repatriation by the Red Cross, Peters co-authored a book, Tornado Down, with his navigator, John Nichol. As of 2009 he works as a motivational speaker, often at university management schools. [ citation needed ]He is a practitioner of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). He has also worked as a representative of the Association of MBAs.
Since 1999, he has been a partner of UPH Ltd.
He is married to Helen and has two children; a daughter Toni and a son Guy, who was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment. Guy won the Queen's Medal (awarded to the Officer Cadet gaining the highest score in military, practical and academic subjects) at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2014. [4] The family live in Worcestershire near Bromsgrove. When at Cottesmore, and studying at the University of Leicester, Peters lived in Rutland. [5]
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR and the Tornado ADV interceptor aircraft.
Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the station would close in 2013 as part of defence spending cuts, along with the retirement of the Harrier GR9 and the disbandment of Joint Force Harrier. The formal closing ceremony took place on 31 March 2011, and the airfield became a satellite of RAF Wittering until March 2012.
Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) 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 1991, it operated mostly as a training base with Quick Reaction Force (QRF) Panavia Tornado F3 fighters based there in the latter stages of the Cold War and into the early 21st century. Since 2006, it has become the home of the deployable RAF communications cadre and the home of No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing.
Rory Underwood, is an English former rugby union player, he is England's record international try scorer with 49 tries in 85 internationals between 1984 and 1996. Underwood's principal position was wing and he played 236 games for Leicester Tigers between 1983 and 1997, he also played for Middlesbrough, Bedford Blues and the Royal Air Force. Underwood toured with the British and Irish Lions in 1989 and 1993 playing in six tests and scoring one try. In 1992 Underwood played for England alongside his younger brother Tony Underwood, becoming the first brothers to play together for England since 1937.
Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as the "Dambusters", for its actions during Operation Chastise against German dams during the Second World War. In the early 21st century it operated the Panavia Tornado GR4 in the ground attack and reconnaissance role until being disbanded on 28 March 2014. The Dambusters reformed on 18 April 2018, and was equipped at RAF Marham in June 2018 with the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning, becoming the first squadron to be based in the UK with this advanced V/STOL type. The unit is composed of both RAF and Royal Navy personnel, and operates from the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
Number 9 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 Passchendaele. During the Second World War, No. IX (B) Squadron was one of two Avro Lancaster units specialising in heavy precision bombing and sank the battleship Tirpitz on 12 November 1944 in Operation Catechism. Between 1962 and April 1982, the squadron flew the Avro Vulcan B.2 as part of the V-Force. In June 1982, it became the first front-line squadron in the world to operate the Panavia Tornado GR.1. In May 1998, No. IX (B) Squadron received the RAF's first Tornado GR.4, which it operated until reequipping with the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 at its present home base of RAF Lossiemouth on 1 April 2019.
Number 2 Squadron, also known as No. II Squadron, is the most senior squadron of the Royal Air Force. It is currently equipped with the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, since reforming there on 12 January 2015.
Number 3 Squadron, also known as No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron, of the Royal Air Force operates the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, since reforming on 1 April 2006. It was first formed on 13 May 1912 as one of the first squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps – being the first to fly heavier than air aircraft.
Number 31 Squadron, known as the Goldstars, was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. The Squadron lays claim to being the first military unit to fly in India, where it was based from 1915 to 1947. Throughout the Cold War, No. 31 Squadron was based in West Germany, flying from RAF Laarbruch and RAF Brüggen. Between September 1984 and March 2019, the Goldstars operated the Panavia Tornado GR1/4, initially from RAF Brüggen and after August 2001 from RAF Marham, Norfolk. No. 31 Squadron was disbanded on 14 March 2019 at RAF Marham and will reform in 2022 at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, eventually operating the General Atomics Protector RG1 by 2024.
Number 15 Squadron, sometimes written as No. XV Squadron, was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It most recently operated the Panavia Tornado GR4 from RAF Lossiemouth as No. XV (Reserve) Squadron. It was the RAF's Operational Conversion Unit for the Tornado GR4 which taught pilots and Weapon Systems Officers (WSO) how to fly the aircraft and what tactics to use to best exploit the performance of their aircraft and its weapons.
Number 16 Squadron, nicknamed the Saints, is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force providing Elementary Flying Training (EFT) with the Grob Tutor T.1 from RAF Wittering.
The Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) was a multinational air unit based at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland, England, from 1981 to 1999. It performed training on the Panavia Tornado for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Luftwaffe, Marineflieger and Italian Air Force. Initially, pilots received four weeks of training on the ground, followed by nine weeks in the air.
The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part of the RAF's commitment to the defence of Europe during the Cold War. The commander of RAFG doubled as commander of NATO's Second Allied Tactical Air Force.
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.
Adrian John Nichol is a retired Royal Air Force navigator who was shot down and captured during the Gulf War.
Squadron Leader Paul Mason, known as Pablo Mason, is a retired Royal Air Force pilot, who was part of the XV Squadron detachment to Bahrain as part of the RAF Tornado squadron during the Gulf War, and subsequently wrote about his experiences. Mason is known for his handlebar moustache, and his Biggles-like attitude and persona.
The MacRobert Baronetcy, of Douneside in the County of Aberdeen, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 5 April 1922 for Alexander MacRobert, a self-made millionaire. He was succeeded by his eldest son Alasdair in June of that year. Tragedy struck the family again when Alasdair was killed in a flying accident in 1938, and the title passed to his younger brother Roderic. In May 1941 Roderic was killed in action whilst flying a Hawker Hurricane fighter in the Middle East, and just over a month later on 30 June 1941, the title became extinct when the youngest brother Iain, was also killed in action whilst serving with the Royal Air Force. Their mother, Rachel, Lady MacRobert (1884–1954), gave £25,000 to purchase a Short Stirling bomber, the aircraft was named MacRobert's Reply in memory of her three sons. Lady MacRobert believed that her sons had lived up to the family motto Virtutis Gloria Merces – translated as Honour is the Reward of Bravery. The MacRobert Award, which has been presented every year since 1969 by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is named in honour of Lady MacRobert.
At the end of the Cold War in 1989 the Royal Air Force structure was as follows:
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