Stephen Dalton

Sir Stephen Dalton
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton in Afghanistan, January 2010
Born	(1954-04-23) 23 April 1954 (age 62) Leicester, Leicestershire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1976–2013
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Commands held	Chief of the Air Staff Air Member for Personnel Controller Aircraft RAF Coltishall XIII Squadron
Battles/wars	Operation Jural
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Gary George Dalton GCB, ADC (born 23 April 1954) is a retired Royal Air Force commander. As commanding officer of XIII Squadron, he deployed on Operation Jural, the United Kingdom's contribution to Operation Southern Watch enforcing the No-Fly Zone over Southern Iraq. He then moved on to high command, serving as Head of Air Operations at the Ministry of Defence during the preparations for and conduct of Operation Telic in Iraq. Most recently he was appointed Chief of the Air Staff, the professional head of the Royal Air Force, in which role he advised the British Government on the deployment of air power during the Libyan conflict. In that capacity he implemented 2,700 redundancies, as determined by the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Dalton was educated at Clarendon Park Junior School and Lancaster School in Leicester, and then the University of Bath, where he studied Aeronautical Engineering.

Dalton was commissioned as a University Cadet on 16 September 1973, before being regraded as a pilot officer following graduation on 15 July 1976. Dalton was promoted to flying officer on 15 January 1977, and then flight lieutenant on 15 October 1977. He flew the SEPECAT Jaguar on three tours, operating from the UK and Germany in both ground attack and tactical reconnaissance roles. Dalton was promoted to squadron leader on 1 July 1984, and awarded a Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the 1987 New Year Honours.