Air Marshal Sir Barry Michael Thornton, is a British retired officer who was a senior commander in the

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 ...

Personal life

Thornton was educated at

Baines Grammar School Baines is a surname of English, Scottish or Welsh origin. It shares many of the same roots with the British surname Bains.Reaney, P.H. ''A Dictionary of British Surnames'' Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2nd edition (1976)Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A D ...

and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. He is married to Delia Thornton, a trained midwife and family law barrister. The couple has two sons, Oliver and William.

Military career

Thornton joined the

in 1976.Air Marshal Barry Thornton CB RAF
Ministry of Defence He was given command of the Engineering and Supply Wing at

RAF Honington Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. Although used as a bomber station during the Second World War, RAF Honington is now the RAF Regim ...

in 1988 and subsequently deployed to Tabuk Air Base during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. In 1991 he took command of the RAF's

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

inspection team. Then in 1997 he joined the

Defence Procurement Agency The Defence Procurement Agency (DPA), was an Executive Agency of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence responsible for the acquisition of materiel, equipment and services, for the British armed forces. Led by the Chief of Defence Procurement, ...

as the Director of Maritime Projects with responsibility for the

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

and

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

programmes. In 2000 he became Controller of Aircraft on the Air Force Board and in 2003 he was made Director General Equipment Support (Air) and then Director General Logistics (Strike) at the

Defence Logistics Organisation The Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) was a key element of the UK Ministry of Defence, responsible for supporting the armed forces throughout the various stages of an operation or exercise; from training, deployment, in-theatre training and ...

. He became the last Commander in Chief

Personnel and Training Command Personnel and Training Command (PTC) was one of two commands of the Royal Air Force (the other being Strike Command) that were merged to form Air Command on 1 April 2007. History Formation PTC was formed in 1994 bringing together the r ...

in January 2006 serving until April 2007 when the command was merged into Air Command: he then took up the post of Chief of Defence Material (Air) at

Defence Equipment & Support Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics ...

. He retired in May 2009.Ministry of Defence website

References

, - , - , - Year of birth missing (living people) Royal Air Force air marshals Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham {{RAF-bio-stub