Harvey Smyth

Air Vice Marshal Harvey Smyth, is a Northern Irish Royal Air Force officer. Since July 2018, he has served as Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group.

RAF career
Smyth joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1991, being commissioned as an acting pilot officer on 9 May. His rank was made substantive on 9 May 1992 and advanced to flying officer twelve months later, before he was posted to the Harrier Force in 1995. He was advanced to flight lieutenant on 9 November 1996. Smyth served with No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron as weapons instructor from 1999, and was promoted squadron leader on 1 July 2001. He subsequently served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Promoted to wing commander on 1 January 2006, Smyth was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours, was subsequently advanced to group captain, and appointed the United Kingdom's National Director of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II procurement programme in Washington, D.C. He was aide-de-camp to The Queen from 13 December 2013 to 30 July 2015.

As an air commodore, Smyth was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 2nd (Northern Ireland) Battalion, Army Cadet Force from 1 June 2016, and attended the Higher Command and Staff Course at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in 2017. Following a stint as the Combined Air and Space Operations Centre Director at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Smyth was promoted air vice marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in July 2018.