Ashley David Stevenson | |
Birth Date: | 1958 9, df=y |
Allegiance: | United Kingdom |
Branch: | Royal Air Force |
Serviceyears: | 1981–2013 |
Rank: | Air Commodore |
Commands: | No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group (2011–12) Royal Air Force College Cranwell (2008–10) Kandahar Airfield (2007–08) RAF Wittering (2005–06) No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron (1998–00) |
Battles: | War in Afghanistan |
Awards: | Commander of the Order of the British Empire Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct |
Air Commodore Ashley David Stevenson, (born 30 September 1958) is a retired senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer and a former Commandant of Royal Air Force College Cranwell.
Stevenson was commissioned into the Flying Branch as a flying officer from the ranks of the RAF on 25 February 1982.[1] He conducted his flying training in the USA on the T-37 and T-38 aircraft, completing using the Hawk in the UK.[2]
He was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct in 1992[3] for his actions in an ejection situation following a bird strike of his two-seat Harrier T.4 on 25 September 1991, where he rescued his rear seat passenger (the first woman to eject from a British combat jet) after she landed in the aircraft's burning wreckage.[4] This was Stevenson's second ejection from a Harrier after he had ejected from a GR.5 on 17 October 1990.[5]
As Officer Commanding No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron, Wing Commander Stevenson commanded the detachment of Harrier GR.7 aircraft deployed during the Sierra Leone crisis,[6] the first operation conducted by the combined RAF/Royal Navy Joint Force Harrier.
Stevenson served as Station Commander RAF Wittering for two years and, on promotion to air commodore,[7] was appointed Air Commodore Force Development Headquarters in No. 1 Group on 27 November 2006.[8]
Stevenson was appointed to the newly created NATO post of Commander Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan in July 2007.[9] He then became Commandant Royal Air Force College Cranwell and Director of Recruiting in April 2008.[10]
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours.
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