Richard Knighton

Air Vice-Marshal Richard J. Knighton (born 1969) is a senior Royal Air Force officer and engineer. Since January 2015, he has served as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff.

Early life
Knighton was educated at Hatton Secondary School. As a University Cadet sponsored by the Royal Air force, he studied engineering at Clare College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1991 with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; as per tradition, this was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree.

Military career
Knighton joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1988. In his early career, he served as an engineer officer and worked on Nimrod and Tornado F3 aircraft. After serving in the Kosovo War, he became Military Assistant to Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Equipment Capability) in 2006, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff Strategy and Plans at Air Command in 2007 and Station Commander at RAF Wittering in 2009. Knighton went on to be Director of Air Plans at the Ministry of Defence in May 2011 and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in January 2015.