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Bill Wratten

 

 
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Bill Wratten
 
 
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Air Chief Marshal
Air Chief Marshal

Air Chief Marshal is a senior air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force . The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-speci...
 Sir William Wratten GBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
, CB
Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a United Kingdom order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements....
, AFC
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)

The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the UK Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth of Nations countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"....
 (b. 15 August 1939) was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Strike Command
RAF Strike Command

The Royal Air Force Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's combat aircraft from 1968 until 1 April 2007....
 from 1994.

ated at Chatham House Grammar School
Chatham House Grammar School

Chatham House Grammar School, often abbreviated to "Chatham House" is a Grammar schools in the United Kingdom in Ramsgate, Kent, England, founded in 1797 as a private boy's boarding school by William Humble, under the name Humbles Boys' School....
 in Ramsgate
Ramsgate

Ramsgate is a seaside resort on the Isle of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Port....
 Wratten was the first Station Commander at RAF Stanley in the Falkland Islands after the 1982 war. He had previously served as Officer Commanding No. 23 Squadron
No. 23 Squadron RAF

No. 23 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the E-3 Sentry from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. The RAF Airborne Warning And Control System fleet is made up of seven E-3Ds, with the UK designation Sentry AEW1 and the aircraft are pooled between 23 Sqn and No....
, and went on to serve as, inter alia, Station Commander RAF Coningsby
RAF Coningsby

RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England. It has been commanded by Group Captain John Hitchcock since 15 December 2008 ....
 and Air Officer Commanding
Air Officer Commanding

Air Officer Commanding is a title given in the air forces of Commonwealth of Nations nations to an Air Officer who holds a command appointment....
 No. 11 Group
No. 11 Group RAF

No. 11 Group was a group in the Royal Air Force for various periods in the 20th century, finally disbanding in 1996. Its most famous service was during 1940 when it defended London and the south-east against the attacks of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain....
.

As an Air Vice Marshal he was Air Commander British Forces Middle East from 17 November 1990 until the end of the Gulf War (as such he was the senior air force officer in Operation Granby
Operation Granby

Operation Granby was the name given to the United Kingdom military operations during the Gulf War in 1991. It covered both deployments in defence of Saudi Arabia and the liberation of Kuwait....
).

995, following the Chinook Helicopter Crash
Chinook Helicopter Crash (1994)

The 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash occurred on 2 June 1994 at about 18:00 hours when a Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, killing all twenty-nine people on board ....
 on the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre

The Mull of Kintyre is the most southwesterly section of the long Kintyre Peninsula in southwestern Scotland, approximately 10 miles from Campbeltown....
, Wratten was the Senior Reviewing Officer of the Board of Inquiry which had failed to find a cause of the accident.






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Air Chief Marshal
Air Chief Marshal

Air Chief Marshal is a senior air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force . The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-speci...
 Sir William Wratten GBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
, CB
Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a United Kingdom order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements....
, AFC
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)

The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the UK Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth of Nations countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"....
 (b. 15 August 1939) was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Strike Command
RAF Strike Command

The Royal Air Force Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's combat aircraft from 1968 until 1 April 2007....
 from 1994.

Flying career

Educated at Chatham House Grammar School
Chatham House Grammar School

Chatham House Grammar School, often abbreviated to "Chatham House" is a Grammar schools in the United Kingdom in Ramsgate, Kent, England, founded in 1797 as a private boy's boarding school by William Humble, under the name Humbles Boys' School....
 in Ramsgate
Ramsgate

Ramsgate is a seaside resort on the Isle of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Port....
 Wratten was the first Station Commander at RAF Stanley in the Falkland Islands after the 1982 war. He had previously served as Officer Commanding No. 23 Squadron
No. 23 Squadron RAF

No. 23 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the E-3 Sentry from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. The RAF Airborne Warning And Control System fleet is made up of seven E-3Ds, with the UK designation Sentry AEW1 and the aircraft are pooled between 23 Sqn and No....
, and went on to serve as, inter alia, Station Commander RAF Coningsby
RAF Coningsby

RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England. It has been commanded by Group Captain John Hitchcock since 15 December 2008 ....
 and Air Officer Commanding
Air Officer Commanding

Air Officer Commanding is a title given in the air forces of Commonwealth of Nations nations to an Air Officer who holds a command appointment....
 No. 11 Group
No. 11 Group RAF

No. 11 Group was a group in the Royal Air Force for various periods in the 20th century, finally disbanding in 1996. Its most famous service was during 1940 when it defended London and the south-east against the attacks of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain....
.

As an Air Vice Marshal he was Air Commander British Forces Middle East from 17 November 1990 until the end of the Gulf War (as such he was the senior air force officer in Operation Granby
Operation Granby

Operation Granby was the name given to the United Kingdom military operations during the Gulf War in 1991. It covered both deployments in defence of Saudi Arabia and the liberation of Kuwait....
).

Chinook helicopter crash Board of Inquiry

In 1995, following the Chinook Helicopter Crash
Chinook Helicopter Crash (1994)

The 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash occurred on 2 June 1994 at about 18:00 hours when a Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, killing all twenty-nine people on board ....
 on the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre

The Mull of Kintyre is the most southwesterly section of the long Kintyre Peninsula in southwestern Scotland, approximately 10 miles from Campbeltown....
, Wratten was the Senior Reviewing Officer of the Board of Inquiry which had failed to find a cause of the accident. Despite a lack of Accident Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder, Wratten concluded that pilot error was the cause of the crash and found the pilots guilty of gross negligence. Following a subsequent Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry and House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report, a House of Lords Select Committee was appointed to consider all the circumstances surrounding the crash and unanimously concluded "that the reviewing officers were not justified in finding that negligence on the part of the pilots caused the aircraft to crash". However, to date (Jan 08) the MoD has refused to alter the verdicts.