Air Marshal Richard John Duckworth, AVSM, VSM is a retired officer of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. He served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C),

Central Air Command ''Nigrahya Rasava shastrava'' , colors = , colors_label = , battles = 1962 Sino-Indian War, East Pakistan Operations 1971, Operation Meghdoot, Orissa Super-Cyclone Relief, 1999 , anniversaries = , commander1 = Air Marshal Amar Preet Sin ...

. He assumed the office on 1 July 2021 succeeding Air Marshal Amit Tiwari. Previously he served as Air Officer in charge Personnel at Air Headquarters Vayu Bhawan in New Delhi and Senior Air Staff Officer for the Western Air Command and

Career

Richard John Duckworth was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force on 29 May, 1983. In a distinguished career spanning 38 years, he has flown a variety of fighter and trainer aircraft with more than 3000 hours of operational flying. With a long career of 38 years, he has commanded a front line fighter aircraft squadron and a fighter base. As an

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 ...

, he served as the Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Technical Intelligence). He is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and has flown MiG-21 and

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

fighter aircraft and has commanded a Mig-21 squadron on a front line base. He superannuated on 30 June, 2022 and was succeeded by Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh.

Honours and decorations

During his career, Richard John Duckworth was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) in 2008 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2021.

References

Indian Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Defence Services Staff College alumni {{India-mil-bio-stub