Group Captain Ron Barrows, AFC, FRAeS, JP, RAF (Ret'd) joined the RAF in 1962 and flew Hunter fighter/ground attack aircraft on close air support missions over the deserts and mountains of what is now Southern Yemen. In 1970, he graduated from the U.S. Navy Test Pilots' School with a posting to the Aero plane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down. During his subsequent four test flying tours, he flight tested all the fast jets and trainers of the time. He was the CO of the Fighter Test Squadron during the period of urgent flight trials that became necessary in support of the re-capture of the Falkland Islands, flight testing the VSTOL Harrier GR3 on the carrier-deck ski-jump and in-flight refueling from the improvised Vulcan tanker. Following staff appointments in NATO and in the U.K .MoD, he was promoted to group captain in 1985 and became A&AEE's chief test pilot. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1976 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1987.