Gerry Mayhew

Mayhew was born on 15 February 1969 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, (now in the West Midlands), England. He was educated at St Benedict's Catholic High School, a voluntary aided Catholic school in Alcester, Warwickshire, and at Alcester Grammar School, a grammar school in Alcester.[1]

Mayhew was commissioned into the Royal Air Force on 28 July 1988 as an acting pilot officer.[2] He served as an air traffic control officer from 1988 to 1990.[1] In 1990, he trained as a pilot and became a Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI).[1] His early career as a pilot was spent flying the Jaguar and Tornado, and he has more than 3000 flying hours.[3] From 2007 to 2009, he served as Officer Commanding No. 13 Squadron RAF.[1]

In January 2013, Mayhew was appointed Air Officer Scotland and Officer Commanding RAF Leuchars.[3] One of his main duties was to oversee the transfer of Leuchars, then an RAF station, to the British Army as a barracks; this was finalised in March 2015. He stepped down as Air Officer Scotland on 17 November 2014.[4] From April 2015 to April 2016, he was a member of the Strategic Defence and Security Review Team in the Cabinet Office.[5] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours.[6] On 28 April 2016 was promoted to air vice marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group.[7]

In August 2018, Mayhew succeeded Air Vice Marshal Michael Wigston as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff.[8] In May 2019, he became Deputy Commander Operations, Headquarters Air Command and was promoted to air marshal.[9] Mayhew was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2022 New Year Honours.[10][11]

Mayhew was criticised in an employment tribunal case in October 2023 in which he was found to have offered "hollow and unconvincing evidence" in a claim by a serving military officer.[12]