Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Sir John Shakespeare Allison, (born 24 March 1943) is a retired senior

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 ...

(RAF) commander. He was the

Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State The Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State is an officer of the British Royal Household. He is responsible for bearing the Sword of State before the monarch on ceremonial occasions. However, the Gentleman Usher was removed from the procession at th ...

RAF career

Educated at the

Royal Grammar School, Guildford The Royal Grammar School, Guildford (originally 'The Free School'), also known as the RGS, is a selective independent day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey in England. The school dates its founding to the death of Robert Beckingham in 1509 w ...

,Sir John Allison
Royal Grammar School, Guildford Allison entered the

Royal Air Force College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and ...

as a flight cadet in 1961. On graduation, he was commissioned as a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

in July 1964. Flying the

F-4 Phantom The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

, he went on to command No. 228 OCU, then 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 ...

, and Secretary to the

Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) is composed of the most senior military personnel in the British Armed Forces who advise on operational military matters and the preparation and conduct of military operations. The committee consists of the Ch ...

at 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 ...

. He returned to the Ministry of Defence as Director of Air Force Plans and Programmes in 1987 and then became Assistant Chief of Defence Staff, Operational Requirements (Air) in 1989. Allison was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 11 Group in 1991. He went to become Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of

RAF Strike Command The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air C ...

in 1994 and then Commander-in-Chief of

RAF Logistics Command The Royal Air Force's Logistics Command was a command formed to provide logistics support for the RAF. History The Command was formed on 1 April 1994

in 1996. Air of Authority: History of RAF Organisation – RAF Home Commands formed between 1958 – 2002
He served as Air Officer Commanding RAF Strike Command from 25 July 1997 to 28 March 1999 when he retired from the RAF. Allison was piloting the last airworthy Second World War German

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

when he made a forced landing at an air show in

Duxford Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, about south of Cambridge. It is part of the Hundred Parishes area. History The village formed on the banks of the River Cam, a little below its emergence from the hills of north Essex. One of t ...

in October 1997. The incident occurred on the aircraft's last planned flight before being placed as permanent static display at RAF Duxford. Allison had 4,612 hours of flying experience across his career, though only 18 hours on this particular aircraft type. A report by the

Air Accidents Investigation Branch The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA) ...

concluded that Allison had manually operated the cooling system of the Daimler Benz DB605A engine into a level of overheating, and had interpreted the thermostat-controlled release of coolant fluid to be an indicator of imminent engine failure. Allison made an attempt to land at the designated airstrip but approached too fast, aborting landing and climbing to an altitude to pass over the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans were considered throughout the 1960s ...

. Allison then attempted to land in a ploughed field nearby, but the aircraft nosed over and the pilot became trapped until rescue workers arrived. Alison was unharmed.

Later career

He is still a keen pilot, flying his own light aircraft as well as the

Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aeronautical and automotive collection located at the Old Warden Aerodrome, Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England. It is the oldest in the world and one of the most prestigious, due to the variety of old a ...

of vintage and historic aircraft at

Old Warden Aerodrome Old Warden Aerodrome is located east southeast of Bedford, in Bedfordshire, England. The privately owned aerodrome serves The Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aeronautical and automotive collection located ...

, UK. He flies the

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

and other similar aircraft at air displays. He is a keen restorer of vintage cars and old airplanes, and is president of the

Light Aircraft Association The Light Aircraft Association (LAA) is the representative body in the United Kingdom for amateur aircraft construction, and recreational and sport flying. It oversees the construction and maintenance of homebuilt aircraft, under an approval from t ...

. He was Director of Strategy, and subsequently, Operations Director at

Jaguar Racing Jaguar Racing is the name given to Jaguar Land Rover's racing interests. It currently competes in Formula E under the name Jaguar TCS Racing as a result of the partnership with Tata Consultancy Services. It was previously a Formula One construc ...

from May 2001 to October 2004.Sir John Allison
School of Coaching He left as a result of restructuring following the sale of the company to

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned ...

and went to

Rolls-Royce plc Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...

as Project Director for the redevelopment of the Bristol Site in February 2005. Sir John was elected President of Europe Air Sports in April 2004 and took up the position in November 2004, following the retirement of Oliver Burghelle (France). On 1 December 2005, he was appointed

. One of his sons is a glider pilot, while another,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, is a Technical Director of a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team.

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, John People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell Royal Air Force air marshals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Living people 1943 births Formula One people