Dress Code: Business attire
Air Chief Marshal Sir Johnny Stringer was born in Sale and educated at Watford Boys’ Grammar School and New College, Oxford. Johnny joined the Jaguar Force at RAF Coltishall in 1993 after completing officer and pilot training. A Qualified Weapon Instructor, he flew operationally over the Former Yugoslavia and helped enforce the Northern Iraq No Fly Zone.
From 2007 to 2009, Johnny commanded 29 Squadron, the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Coningsby; leaving on promotion, he spent 2 years as DACOS Joint Effects in the J3 Division (Current Ops) of the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood. He returned to New College as a visiting Trenchard Fellow on the Oxford Changing Character of War programme in Autumn 2011.
Johnny commanded RAF Coningsby and its Typhoon Wing, between October 2012 and September 2014, supporting national and overseas Typhoon operations, and displayed the Spitfire and Hurricane with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. He was posted as ACOS Ops to HQ Air Command in August 2015 before commanding No.83 Expeditionary Air Group as the UK Air Component Commander between October 2016 – October 2017, in charge of all national air operations in the fight against Daesh and across the Middle East. For this tour, Johnny was awarded the CBE in the May 2018 Operational Honours List. Promoted in February 2018, he was Chief of Staff Joint Forces Command and, from January 2020 to March 2021, Director Strategy in UK Strategic Command (JFC’s successor) – in this latter role he led the Command’s engagement on the UK Government’s 2021 Integrated Security and Defence Review.
Johnny held a professional industrial placement between May 2021 and June 2022. Promoted to Air Marshal (3*), he served as Deputy Commander NATO Allied Air Command between August 2022 and October 2025. Johnny was knighted in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List and selected for promotion to Air Chief Marshal and appointed as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe in March 2026.
He is a graduate of the UK Advanced and Higher Command and Staff Courses, the Royal College of Defence Studies and holds Masters degrees from Oxford and Kings College London. Johnny is married to Lisa and has two sons.