As a kid, I was always very independent and wanted to earn my own money, so I managed, at the

tender age of 14, to get a “Bin Boy” job (emptying ******* bins) which developed to a formal

cleaner’s role by 16 at the nearby British Aerospace in Warton Lancashire, now BAE Systems. That and with growing up

just 300 yard from the centreline of said company’s runway and having a father as an engineer in the

same company may make you think I was predisposed to the idea of science/engineering as a

career. Well you’d be right.

From a science based set of A levels, I was sponsored to University by the then Vickers Ship building

and Engineering Company (VSEL), of Barrow in Furness; famous for Polaris and Trident nuclear

submarines. However it was my first and possibly true love (well behind my wife) of the “lighter than

air machine”, which drew me back to apply and luckily obtain a graduate placement at British

Aerospace in the very early 90’s

Over the next 15 years I grew my engineering expertise within the Flight Systems discipline. Primarily

covering Environmental Control Systems (air conditioning to you and me) but also touching

hydraulics, fuel, crew escape and landing gear to name but a few system areas. This also took in circa

11 aircraft and variants from Jaguar and Lighting to Typhoon and F-35; the latter of which I gained a

year secondment to Lockheed in Fort Worth Texas to work on its early development.

After 15 years, I had done a lot of the design through to test and flight testing of aircraft systems so

felt it was time for a move. I dabbled with Project Management but Engineering was my true love, so

I happily took a huge sideways leap of faith into the world of Support. For some people they say this

is where worn-out Engineers go to slowly slide into retirement. However this was the early time of

the Military Services need to cut costs and get private industry, especially those that make the

planes, to step up and help them in the maintenance and support of their jets. This is so they could

focus their energies of the true vocation of the Military in projecting the countries influence and

power around the world. So, for the following 13 years, I spent my time on the Tornado ATTAC

service contract. Travelling between Warton, RAF Wyton and RAF Marham in supporting the

development, set up and support the running of the Tornado Flight Systems related aspects of

aircraft and equipment maintenance and technical Support; which included a heavy interaction with

Procurement, Supply Chain, Legal, Safety and my ubiquitous Engineering comrades. This also helped

me gain a Master’s degree in “Supportability Engineering”; something I am exceptional proud of

behind the huge pride I have for my family.

So we come to the last 4 years of my current 32 year career. As ATTAC grew to a close and Tornado

was taken out of service my experience was snapped up to be the Engineering Change lead on the

ATTAC style support contract for Typhoon called TyTAN. So for this current stage of my career I have

been travelling between Warton and RAF Coningsby supporting our RAF boys and girls as they are

deployed throughout the world and some very dodgy parts of the eastern Mediterranean, by driving

through new technology change to the aircraft and support infrastructure.

For me there is no doubt, that being in a positon that integrates with our Military services is the best

and most interesting job in the world; as where else do you get to understand where and why our

Military are deployed, why they need the products and technologies they ask for and interacting

with other partner nations and operators (Germany, Italy and Spain) and their industrial partners to

bring into operation and keep supported some of the most sophisticated weapon systems in the

world. All in all to help keep little Johnny feeling safe in his bed at night.