John Thompson (RAF officer)

Air Vice Marshal John Hugh Thompson CB (born 18 September 1947) is a former Royal Air Force officer who became Head of the British Defence Staff in Washington, D.C.

RAF career
Educated at Fielding High School in New Zealand, Thompson joined the Royal Air Force in 1970. He became Station Commander at RAF Wittering in 1988, Senior Air Staff Officer at RAF Rheindahlen in 1993 and an assistant to the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996. He went on to be Commandannt of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1997 and Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C. in 2000 before retiring in 2002.