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BY LINZ WILLIAMS
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Air Commodore Ian R W Stewart BSC RAF has been announced as the next Commandant Air Cadets, succeeding Air Commodore Gordon Moulds as the Air Training Corps’ top officer.
Air Cdre Stewart left school in 1976 as a Cadet Warrant Officer and following university education, completed his Officer Training in 1980 before embarking on the basic and advanced flying training courses at RAF Cranwell and RAF Valley.
In 1983 he was appointed as a flying instructor at RAF Linton-on-Ouse where he flew over a 1,000 hours on the Jet Provost basic trainer. In 1986, he converted to the Phantom FGR2 and served on 92 Squadron as the Squadron qualified flying instructor. In 1989, he moved back to the United Kingdom to join 228 Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Leuchars as a Phantom FGR2 instructor.
After this tour he converted to the Tornado F3 and remained in Scotland serving on 111 (F) Squadron as an Air Defence pilot, instructor and instrument rating examiner. In 1992 he moved from Leuchars to RAF Coningsby and joined the Tornado F3 Operational Conversion Unit 56 (R) Squadron as a flight commander. He remained there for 2 years and then joined the staff at 11 Group Headquarters at RAF Bentley Priory, serving on the Air Defence training desk.
He left Bentley Priory at the end of 1996 and completed the Joint Service Defence College course at Greenwich. He then went on to command the Flying Training Development Wing at RAF Halton 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 as a Kosovo briefing officer and completed a short tour within the former Directorate of Public Relations (RAF).
From April 2000 to October 2002 Air Cdre Stewart was the Officer Commanding 56 (R) Squadron at RAF Coningsby. After achieving over 1,000 flying hours on the Tornado F3 he then joined the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood as the J5 Plans SO1 Deployable Liaison Officer and was a member of the Operation TELIC planning staff responsible for the UK’s contribution to Coalition operations in Iraq. He was then posted to Rammstein, Germany in 2003, where he served as the A3 Division Head and United Kingdom Senior National Representative within the NATO Component Command-Air Headquarters.
In early 2004 he served as Assistant Chief of Staff Air within the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan and was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal in 2006 for services to NATO. His last assignment was as the head of the Officer and Aircrew Cadet Training Unit at RAF Cranwell from 2006 until May 2008.
Air Cdre Stewart is the Chairman of the 56 Squadron Association and the Chair of Trustees of the RAF Cranwell Kidzone Childcare Centre. He has been married to Rosemary since 1981 and they have 3 children; Chris, Mike and James. His interests include skiing, foreign travel and singing.
FS Stockwell makes it to the YOPEY final on 13 Feb!
Cpl Kemp, Cdt Buck and Cdt Wagstaffe represent the wing at regional netball at RAF Cranwell 27 Jan. Cdt Wagstaffe selected for regional trials. They will receive their wing blues and certificates in due course.
FS Stockwell and Cdt Pestell attended the wing music weekend 25 – 27 Jan.
Welcome to everyone visiting the News @ 1066 blog. If you have any articles (+photos) please do send them to me at sjames1066@gmail.com and they could appear here and even on the Wing and Regional websites! So Happy New Year and get writing!!
Sgt James
Cdt MCO
Sqn Webmaster