Cliff Spink
Royal Air Force Air Marshal (born 1946)
title: "Cliff Spink" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["graduates-of-the-royal-college-of-defence-studies", "royal-air-force-air-marshals", "graduates-of-the-royal-air-force-college-cranwell", "living-people", "people-of-the-royal-observer-corps", "companions-of-the-order-of-the-bath", "commanders-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire", "royal-air-force-personnel-of-the-gulf-war", "1946-births", "trenchard-brats"] description: "Royal Air Force Air Marshal (born 1946)" topic_path: "society/education" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Spink" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Royal Air Force Air Marshal (born 1946) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Clifford Rodney Spink |
| honorific_suffix | |
| image | File:F86A Sabre - Duxford (12677776795).jpg |
| caption | Spink piloting an F-86A |
| birth_date | |
| allegiance | United Kingdom |
| branch | Royal Air Force |
| rank | Air Marshal |
| commands | No. 11/18 Group |
| Royal Observer Corps | |
| RAF Mount Pleasant | |
| RAF Coningsby | |
| No. 74 Squadron | |
| battles | Gulf War |
| awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath |
| Commander of the Order of the British Empire | |
| laterwork | President Historic Aircraft Association |
| Honorary President Royal Observer Corps Association | |
| Vice-Patron RAF Halton Apprentices Association (Old Haltonians) | |
| :: |
|name= Clifford Rodney Spink |honorific_suffix = |image= File:F86A Sabre - Duxford (12677776795).jpg |caption= Spink piloting an F-86A |nickname= |birth_date= |birth_place= |death_date= |death_place= |placeofburial= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= Royal Air Force |serviceyears= |rank= Air Marshal |unit= |commands= No. 11/18 Group Royal Observer Corps RAF Mount Pleasant RAF Coningsby No. 74 Squadron |battles= Gulf War |awards= Companion of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire |relations= |laterwork= President Historic Aircraft Association Honorary President Royal Observer Corps Association Vice-Patron RAF Halton Apprentices Association (Old Haltonians) Clifford Rodney Spink (born 17 May 1946) is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer, who is now a Spitfire display pilot on the national air display circuit. The first Spitfire he ever flew belonged to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, during his tenure as Station Commander of RAF Coningsby. He also served as the 23rd Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps, the last but one officer to hold the post.
Royal Air Force career
Spink joined the Royal Air Force in the spring of 1963 with the 104th entry of the Aircraft Apprentice Scheme at No. 1 School of Technical Training, RAF Halton. On passing out of Halton, in the spring of 1966, in the rank of Sgt Aircraft Apprentice, he was granted a flying commission at the RAF College Cranwell, and initially learned to fly on the Jet Provost. Later training took place on the Gnat and the Hunter, before Spink was posted to his first frontline tour on No. 111 Squadron flying the Lightning. Spink was later posted to No. 56 Squadron in Cyprus before returning to No. 111 Squadron.
Spink served as the Commanding Officer of No. 74 Squadron before being posted to the South Atlantic in 1989 as the Officer Commanding RAF Mount Pleasant on the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. and Air Officer Commanding No. 11/18 Group in 1996.
Spink also served as the last but one Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps, from 1993 until 1995. Spink remains the honorary President of the Royal Observer Corps Association.
Since the RAF
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Supermarine_Spitfire_Mk_XVI_NR.jpg" caption="TD248 carries the codes 'CR-S' and the Tiger and motto of [[No. 74 Squadron RAF"] ::
Spink currently flies a restored Spitfire XVIe TD248. This is a former "gate guardian" from RAF Sealand which was rebuilt by Historic Flying Limited about 15 years ago. It initially appeared in a postwar No. 41 Squadron colour scheme but it has recently been repainted in wartime colours with the personal markings 'CR-S'. Since retiring from the RAF he has formed his own Company, "Spitfire Limited", dealing in a range of aviation interests.
References
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References
- "Cliff Spink CBE". Boult bee flight academy.
- "Profile of the new master=Air Marshal Chris Spink". Air Pilots.
- "Groups 10–19". rafweb.org.
- "Units directly responsible to Ministry level". rafweb.org.
- "Triennial Registration Form". Royal Air Force Halton Apprentices Association.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::