Air vice-marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

George Phillip Black, (born 10 July 1932) is a retired

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

officer.

RAF career

Black was commissioned into the

in 1950. He became officer commanding No. 111 Squadron in 1964, Leader of the

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

Display Team in 1965 and Commander of the Lightning Operational Conversion Unit in 1967. He went on to be officer commanding No. 5 Squadron in 1969, a member of the air plans directorate in the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1971 and Station Commander at

RAF Wildenrath Royal Air Force Wildenrath, commonly known as RAF Wildenrath, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) military airbase near Wildenrath in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that operated from 1952 to 1992. Wildenrath was the first of four 'clutch' stations ...

in 1972. After that he became Commander of the Harrier Field Force at

RAF Germany 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 ...

in 1972, Group Captain Operations at Headquarters No. 38 Group in 1974 and Group Captain Operations at Headquarters No. 11 Group in 1978. His last appointments were as Commander Allied Air Defence Sector One in 1980 and Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) at Headquarters

Allied Air Forces Central Europe Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE) was the NATO command tasked with air and air defense operations in NATOs Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT) area of command. History Allied Air Forces Central Europe was activated on 2 April 1951 at Fon ...

in 1984 before retiring in 1987. In February 1983 Black was appointed as the 18th Commandant of the

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December ...

, an appointment he held until September 1984.

Career after the RAF

Between 1987 and 1992 Black was the senior defence advisor at Ferranti Defence Systems in Edinburgh, moving to an appointment as Director of Military Business for Marconi Electronic Business Systems from 1993 until 1999. He then spent a year as the Defence Advisor to the Sensor Division of

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

, transferring to the BAe Systems Avionics division in 2000. Since 2000 Black has been the Defence Consultant for Selex. Black was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Management in 1977 and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautics Society in 2000.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, George Phillip Royal Air Force air marshals People of the Royal Observer Corps Living people 1932 births People from Aberdeen Companions of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)