Dave Fry

After completing officer and pilot training in 1980/81 Dave was posted to Lyneham for the first of 5 tours on the C130K, Two of which were with LXX Sqn. He also served a co-pilot tour with 24 Sqn including a stint based at Port Stanley with 1312 Flt. Flying 2 tours with 47 Sqn, probably the highlight being a tour as captain on the Special Forces Flight for the duration of Gulf War 1.
In addition, he flew as an exchange officer with the USAF instructing on the C141 Starlifter for 3 years before becoming the first ‘foreigner’ to fly the C-17, flying the first aircraft into the Farnborough Air Show.

He thoroughly enjoyed the 2 tours on LXX making many lifelong friends, The highlight undoubtedly being taking the reins of LXX as acting OC from the delightful Peter Williams when he was deployed as Force Commander for air operations in Africa. During this time , Dave was awarded the prestigious ‘Master Air Pilot ‘ award from the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators, for amongst other things, his part in developing the technique of Ultra Low Level Airdrop of stores on night vision goggles and A10 escorted airdrop formations during combat, both employed during the first Gulf War. After returning to Flight Commander duties after 6 months in charge, he retired from the RAF and began a second career on the 747 with Virgin Atlantic.

There he stayed for 20 years flying as Captain on the Airbus A340 before retiring from professional flying in 2020. This marked a 40 year flying career, amassing over 20,000 hours on 7 different 4-engine types.
A position he is led to believe is unique.

He can still be found flying the friendly Wiltshire skies in either his replica Hawker Fury Fighter, or his beloved Chipmunk , where he is re-instating his instructor credentials to pass on his love of flying to the next generation of aircrew. He still wears his LXX yellow T-shirt with pride and looks forward to getting reacquainted with old friends and colleagues from LXX.