Gp Capt John ‘Jock’ Heron – RIP

From the Hunter Register:

I regret I have to report the passing of a couple more of our number. Jock Heron has been a frequent correspondent over the years, and shortly after he contacted me last week, I heard from the No 43 Sqn Association that he had died suddenly. Details of Jock’s funeral will be distributed in due course.

John White CBE FRAeS

Jock served on IV (AC) Sqn at Wildenrath in the early 70s when the Sqn was flying the Harrier GR1/T2. He was a regular at our reunions for many years, and very supportive of the IV SQN Association.

Jock’s autobiographical memoir “From Schoolboy to Station Commander” was published in 2012.

More information as I receive it.

Is his own words:

Group Captain Jock Heron was born in Paisley and completed his education at Hamilton Academy before joining the Royal Air Force in January 1955 as an officer cadet at the RAF College Cranwell.  Following graduation and the award of his pilot’s wings he was commissioned in December 1957.  After operational conversion and training on the Hunter at Chivenor he was posted to No 43(F) Squadron at Leuchars as a day fighter ground attack pilot where he became the Hunter solo display pilot.  In 1961 he moved to Stradishall with No 54(F) Squadron for a second Hunter tour where he was the squadron weapons instructor after attending the Fighter Combat School at West Raynham.  A further posting took him to Binbrook in 1963 as the Hunter trials pilot on the Air Fighting Development Squadron, part of the Central Fighter Establishment, where he also flew the Lightning and, when detached to the French Air Force, various marks of the Dassault Mirage 3.

In 1965 Jock was selected for an exchange appointment with the United States Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas where he was an instructor pilot on the Republic F-105 Thunderchief, thus within a twelve-month period he had flown three contemporary Mach 2 fighters with three Air Forces from three countries.  During his tour at Nellis he was privileged to fly the last F-86F Sabre in the USAF before the type’s retirement in 1966. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1967 to take up an appointment in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Operational Requirements branch as a Squadron Leader staff officer on the MRCA (Tornado) project.

From 1970 to 1971 he served as a lecturer on the Joint Warfare Establishment at Old Sarum before resuming flying duties as a Harrier Flight Commander on No IV(AC) squadron at RAF Wildenrath.  He returned to the MoD in 1975 as the Harrier Air Staff officer where he was responsible for enhancing the operational capability of the RAF Harrier Force.  He served in Whitehall until 1978 when he was promoted to Wing Commander and returned to Germany to command the operations wing at RAF Gutersloh where he flew both the Harrier and the Wessex helicopter.  In 1980 he was posted to HQ RAF Germany at Rheindahlen and was made an OBE in 1981 for his work on the Harrier.

Promoted to Group Captain in 1982 Jock returned to the United Kingdom to command RAF West Drayton where he remained until 1984 when he was posted to the Falkland Islands to command RAF Stanley for four months.  On his return he became Group Captain Operations at Headquarters Strike Command where he was responsible for shaping the RAF command and control organisation in the new NATO bunker.  He remained at High Wycombe until his early retirement from the RAF in the Spring of 1987 when he joined Rolls-Royce in Bristol as its Military Affairs Executive.

His duties with the Company involved close liaison with the flying units of all three Services and with the MoD policy, operational requirements and air staffs with the aim of ensuring a smooth communications flow between the Company and the Armed Forces. He retired finally in October 1998 but maintained his Service links through the RAF Historical Society, where he was Vice Chairman.  At Filton he was a trustee of Aerospace Bristol and a Vice President of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust.

He married Tracey in 1959, and they had three daughters, Fiona, Jenny and Kate, and seven grandchildren. Tracey died in 1993 and in 2001 he married Deanna Moore who died in 2005 leaving her two children, Melissa and Daniel. In his latter years his companion was Anne Andrew.