Air Vice-Marshal Jason Appleton grew up in Bolton and, following a 6th Form scholarship, joined the Royal Air Force as a Navigator in January 1991.
He has amassed in excess of 3000 flying hours on helicopters over numerous operational flying tours, to include the Former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland (where he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service), Iraq and Afghanistan, and a non-flying tour in Iraq as an Air Advisor. He was a Qualified Helicopter Tactics Instructor on both Merlin and Puma helicopters and attained A2 Instructor status whilst serving at the Defence Helicopter Flying School.
He has commanded: 28 (Army Cooperation) Sqn; the Merlin and Puma Forces in Iraq; and the Joint Aviation Group in Afghanistan, comprising the Chinook, Merlin, Apache, Lynx and Sea King Forces. He was also Station Commander RAF Shawbury, home to No.1 Flying Training School and the Defence College of Air and Space Operations.
Staff appointments include: Head of Flight Safety, HQ Joint Helicopter Command; Head of the RAF Presentation Team; Chief of Staff No 1 Gp, co-ordinating staff output for the RAF Combat Air and ISTAR Forces; and serving as President of a Service Inquiry into a helicopter accident. As Assistant Head Commitments, Joint Helicopter Command, he held responsibility for Operational and Exercise commitments for all UK Battlefield Helicopters, prior to serving as the Senior British Officer in NATO’s Allied Air Command at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Before taking up his current appointment as AOC No. 2 Gp, AVM Appleton was Director of two strategic transformation programmes.
A graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff College (2009) and the Royal College of Defence Studies (2022), AVM Appleton holds an MA in Defence Studies and PGCert in Strategic Studies from King’s College London.
Air Vice-Marshal Jason Appleton MA RAF Air Officer Commanding Number 2 Group
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