Barry North

Air Marshal Sir Barry Mark North, (born 13 September 1959) is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer, who served as Deputy Commander (Personnel) at RAF Air Command. A helicopter pilot, North has held command appointments at all levels, notably No. 78 Squadron in the Falkland Islands, the Special Forces Flight as a squadron leader and the newly established No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group in the Middle East as an air commodore.

Early life and education North was born in September 1959. He was educated at Carre's Grammar School in Sleaford. He was awarded 'Alumnus of the Year' by Nottingham Trent University in 2011. He also holds a Master of Arts in Defence Studies from King's College London. – having won two trophies during Initial Officer Training. during his flying training, and promoted to flying officer in July 1984 prior to being posted to No. 72 Squadron in Northern Ireland in August of that year to fly the Westland Wessex. and was promoted to flight lieutenant in January 1987, converting to the Chinook before beginning his first tour with the Special Forces Flight of No. 7 Squadron at RAF Odiham in March. before taking command of No. 78 Squadron in the Falkland Islands, flying both the Chinook and Sea King aircraft, in July. having relinquished that command and joined the Army Command and Staff Course in March. and a transfer to Headquarters Strike Command as Wing Commander Operations. Having led the planning for JHC's role in the invasion of Iraq, In April 2004 he was appointed the Station Commander of RAF Aldergrove, also concurrently holding the positions of Senior RAF Officer Northern Ireland and Commander Joint Helicopter Force Northern Ireland. In January 2007 North received his substantive promotion to air commodore, and was appointed Head of Air Resources and Plans at the Ministry of Defence.

North was promoted to air vice marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 22 (Training) Group in July 2009, becoming Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in March 2010. He was promoted to air marshal and appointed Deputy Commander (Personnel) at RAF Air Command on 3 May 2013. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2015 New Year Honours.

North retired from the RAF in May 2016. He has been President of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) since July 2017.