Chris Moran

Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Hugh "Chris" Moran KCB, OBE, MVO, ADC, FRAeS (28 April 1956 – 26 May 2010) was a fast jet pilot and later a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He died unexpectedly on 26 May 2010 and at the time of his death he was Commander-in-Chief of Air Command.

Early and family life

Moran was born in Urmston, Lancashire, and educated at Bishop Ullathorne School in Coventry in the late sixties and early seventies before attending the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to study Mechanical Engineering. In 1974, whilst studying at university, Moran became a university cadet in the Royal Air Force. He was commissioned an acting pilot officer on 16 December of that year, together with Stuart Peach, who also achieved the rank of air chief marshal.

Moran graduated from UMIST in 1977 with a BSc and went to RAF College Cranwell for his initial training with the RAF. He was regraded as a pilot officer on 15 July 1977, and was successively promoted to flying officer (15 January 1978) and to flight lieutenant (15 October 1978). He was later to earn an MA from King's College London. In 1980 he married Elizabeth Jane Goodwin.