John Hamilton

Air Vice Marshal John Henry Staples Hamilton, (born 1953) is a former officer of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) who was Chief of Air Force from 2002 to 2006 and head of the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management from 2006 to 2014. Since 2019 he has been the operations manager for Air Napier.

Biography Hamilton was born and grew up in Hawke's Bay, He became a helicopter pilot, then a flying instructor. He led the planning for the New Zealand deployment in the International Force East Timor, for which he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2001 New Year Honours. He was Chief of Air Force with the rank of two-star air vice-marshal He was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours for his leadership of the Air Force. Following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, he became National Controller of the Civil Defence Emergency Response, with Civil Defence as lead agency, supported by New Zealand Police, Fire Service, Defence Force and many other agencies and organisations. He stepped down from Civil Defence in 2014.

He retired to Hawke's Bay but came out of retirement in 2019 to become operations manager for Air Napier.