Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation


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Air Marshal The Lord Garden (2618974)


 Timothy                                  b: 23 Apr 1944                        r:  23 Apr 1996         d: 9 Aug 2007

Peerage - 1 May 2004 (Conferred 9 Jun 2004), KCB - 11 Jun 1994 (CB - 31 Dec 1991), MA (St Catherine’s Coll, Oxford)- 1967 (BA –1965),  MPhil (Magdalene College, Cambridge) – 1982, FRAeS - 1994, FRUSI - 1996, FCGI - 2003, LoH - xx Jul 2003, Hon Fellow, St Catherine’s College, Oxford

For a list of foreign decoration abbreviations, click here

Act Plt Off: 22 Sep 1963, Plt Off: 15 July 1965 [23 Oct 1963], Fg Off: 16 Jan 1966 [23 Apr 1964], Flt Lt:  23 Oct 1966, Sqn Ldr: 1 Jul 1973, Wg Cdr: 1 Jan 1979, Act Gp Capt: 1 Aug 1982, Gp Capt: 1 Jul 1984, A/Cdre: 1 Jan 1989, AVM: 1 Jan 1991, AM: 21 Mar 1994.

22 Sep 1963:             Appointed to a Permanent Commission (General List) 

23 Apr 1968:             Pilot, No 3 Sqn. Laarbruch

15 Dec 1971:              Attended Central Flying School. Little Rissington

10 Jul 1972:                QFI 3 FTS Leeming ;

22 Oct 1973:              Sqn Cdr 1 FTS Linton-on-Ouse

4 Jan 1976:                Attended Army Staff College - Camberley.

17 Dec 1976:              PSO to Air Member for Personnel.

 9 Jul 1979:                 Officer Commanding, No 50 Sqn.

28 Jun 1981:               Attended Magdalene College, Cambridge

28 Aug 1982:              Director of Defence Studies, Bracknell.

14 Nov 1985:              Officer Commanding, RAF Odiham.

6 Nov 1987:                Deputy Director, Defence Programmes.

 1 Jul 1988:                  Director of Air Force Staff  Duties.

15 Mar 1991:               Assistant Chief of the Air Staff.

1 Aug 1992:                 Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes).

 1 Apr 1994:                Commandant, Royal College of Defence Studies.

He was educated at King’s School Worcester from where he went on to St Catherine’s College, Oxford to read Physics. He joined the RAF on a University Cadetship during his second year at Oxford. Having completed his flying training, he joined No 3 Sqn at Laarbruch in Germany at that time flying the Canberra B(I) 8 in the tactical nuclear role.   Returning from Germany, he attended the CFS, and was a flying instructor and flying training squadron commander on the Jet Provost, prior to attending the Army Staff course at Camberley.

He returned to an operational flying post following a spell as PSO to the Air Member for Personnel as OC, No 50 Squadron.  This unit was one of the last to fly the Vulcan from its base at Waddington.  He then spent a year at Magdalene College Cambridge taking a postgraduate degree in International Relations before taking up his appointment as Director of Defence Studies for the RAF. From there he undertook rotary training before assuming command of RAF Odiham, where he flew Chinook and Puma helicopters.

In 1987 he returned to the MOD for a succession of posts in the Central Programmes area and on the air staff. He served on the Air Force Board as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff before being appointed Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes). His final post before taking early retirement was as Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies. He was subsequently Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, and then became a Professor at the Centre for Defence Studies at King’s College London.  He was made a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators in 1997. Appointed to a Peerage on June 2004, he sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat Peer and from May 2005 was their Defence Spokesman in the House of Lords.  In 2007, he developed an incurable cancer and died a few weeks later.

Further information: - Air Marshal The Lord Garden's Website  

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