Hawk Sqn Cdrs 13
Wing Commander N J Gatenby
BSc RAF
3 December 2012 -
Wing Commander Nick Gatenby joined the Royal Air Force in 1993 after reading Geology at Durham University. On completion of his flying training on the Tucano and Hawk aircraft his first operational tour was as an Air Defender on 111(F) Sqn at RAF Leuchars flying the Tornado F3. During this tour he completed operational deployments to the Middle East, flying combat sorties over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch and also to the Falklands Islands flying Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) sorties over the South Atlantic.
In 2001 Wing Commander Gatenby was posted to 208 Sqn at RAF Valley where he became a Qualified Flying Instructor on the Hawk T1 and ultimately finished this tour as the Central Flying School Hawk T1 Examiner. In 2004 Wing Commander Gatenby was promoted and posted to 56(R) Sqn, the F3 Operational Conversion Unit, at RAF Leuchars. During this tour he completed Qualified Tactics and Flying Instructor duties on the Standards and Evaluation Flight. This tour was then followed by a posting as the Executive Officer on XXV(F) Sqn at RAF Leeming during which he time was involved in multiple UK QRA launches against Russian long range aviation sorties by Bear and Blackjack aircraft.
In 2008 Wing Commander Gatenby was posted to HQ 1 Group into the newly established Joint Strike Fighter Role Office. During this post he developed the UK Lightning II Operational Conversion Syllabus. This was followed by a short tour in the Air Warfare Centre working as the Lightning II Trials and Test Pilot. Promoted to Wing Commander in 2011, he worked as the Fast Jet Desk Officer in the Directorate of Flying Training within 22 (Training) Group, responsible for the supervision of RAF and RN Fast Jet Flying Training before returning to RAF Valley on appointment as Officer Commanding 208 Sqn on 7 December 2012.
Wing Commander Gatenby is married to Janet and they have 2 children, Tom and Abi. His interests include mountaineering, generally keeping fit, and a new-
