Group Captain David Houghton

Biography

Group Captain Houghton joined the Royal Air Force in 1984. Following navigator training, David completed his first operational tour at RAF Lyneham flying C-130K aircraft. After a short tour as a simulator and ground school instructor on the Tornado F3 force, he completed a tour as a navigator instructor on HS125 Dominie aircraft before returning to the Hercules force in 1993. Following tours on 24 Squadron and 57 Squadron, the latter as a Flight Instructor, David was promoted to squadron leader in 1998 and completed a Flight Commander tour on 57 Squadron at RAF Lyneham. During his time on the C-130 force, David twice served in the Falkland Islands and took part in Operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone.

Posted to the Directorate of Air Operations in the MOD in 2001, David acted as a member of the air team providing operational advice to Chief of Defence Staff and Ministers during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and also provided operational input to the Tactical Air Transport Force, Command Support Air Transport fleets and the A400M programme. Promoted to wing commander in 2003, he moved to HQ 2 Group where he was responsible for developing the operational capabilities of the BAe146, HS125, C-17, C-130J, C-130K, TriStar and VC10 forces.

David’s next move was to RAF Northolt in December 2005 where he was Officer Commanding Operations Wing and flew Islanders until September 2007. After a period at university (during which time he continued to fly the Islander at RAF Northolt) and operational service in Iraq, David was promoted to group captain and charged with establishing and leading Programme Future Brize (the RAF’s programme to redevelop RAF Brize Norton, relocate all RAF Lyneham’s aircraft, assets and Units to Brize Norton and close RAF Lyneham) in March 2009. Prior to assuming the role of the UK’s Defence Attaché to Poland, David attended the UK’s Royal College of Defence Studies.