Air Chief Marshal

Air Chief Marshal

Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 Sir David George Evans GCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, RAF (born 1924) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

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Military career

Born and educated in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Evans was commissioned into the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 under an emergency commission in 1944 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He underwent pilot training in Canada and he then completed in operational training in Ismaïlia

Ismaïlia

-Notable natives:*Osman Ahmed Osman, a famous and influential Egyptian engineer, contractor, entrepreneur, and politician, was born in this town on 6 April 1917....

 in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

.

In 1973 Evans was made Air Officer Commanding

Air Officer Commanding

Air Officer Commanding is a title given in the air forces of Commonwealth nations to an air officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, an air vice marshal might be the AOC 38 Group...

 No.1 Group

No. 1 Group RAF

Number 1 Group of the Royal Air Force is one of the two operations groups in Air Command.The group is today referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK plus RAF Unit Goose Bay in Canada, which is used extensively as an...

, in 1976 he was appointed Vice Chief of the Air Staff

Vice-Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)

The British Vice-Chief of the Air Staff was the post occupied by the senior Royal Air Force officer who served as a senior assistant to the Chief of the Air Staff. The post was created during World War II on 22 April 1940 and its incumbement sat on the Air Council...

 and he went on to be Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Strike Command

RAF Strike Command

The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007: it was merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air Command. It latterly consisted of two formations - No. 1...

 the following year. He was Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff from 1981 to 1983.

In retirement, Evans became a Non-Executive Director of British Aerospace

British Aerospace

British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...

. In 1985 he was made King of Arms of the Order of the Bath

King of Arms of the Order of the Bath

-Kings of Arms:*1725–1745: Grey Longueville*1745–?: Edward Younge *?–1757: William Woodley*1757–1771: Samuel Horsey*1771–1800: Sir Thomas Cullum, 7th Baronet*1800–1829: John Palmer Cullum, Esq. *1829–1864: Algernon Frederick Greville...

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