John Peters (RAF officer)

British Royal Air Force pilot (born 1961)

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Squadron Leader John Peters (born 1961) is a former pilot of the Royal Air Force (RAF).[1]

## Early life

[edit]

By the age of 17, he had his pilot's licence.[2] He attended the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (commonly known as UMIST, now part of the University of Manchester since 2004), gaining a BSc in Building Technology in 1983. He was an RAF university cadet, joining the RAF in 1980 and training at RAF Woodvale with the Manchester and Salford Universities Air Squadron.[1][3]

## Career

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After his RAF training, he was based at RAF Chivenor, RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Laarbruch.

He became a staff pilot in 1987 at the Air Navigation School (ANS) of No. 6 Flying Training School at RAF Finningley.[3] In 1988, he moved to XV Squadron at RAF Laarbruch after converting to the Tornado GR1 as a Flight Lieutenant.[3]

### Gulf War

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On his first mission during Operation Desert Storm, aged 29, an ultra-low level daylight mission on Ar Rumaylah Southwest Air Base, while acting as number two to Squadron Leader Paul "Pablo" Mason, his Panavia Tornado GR.1 of XV Squadron was hit at fifty feet by a shoulder-launched SAM SA-14, and he and his navigator (John Nichol) were captured by the military of Iraq.[2][4] After capture he was shown, bruised and beaten, on television.[2][5]

He received around 25,000 letters from well-wishers following the appearance. He said that he was "treated very specially" as a result of his experiences and found it difficult to live up to the image the public had of him.[6] At the end of the war he was released and returned to the RAF for a further ten years.

### Instructor

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Having been at RAF Brüggen, he moved to RAF Cottesmore in 1993, becoming an instructor on the TTTE. He graduated with an MBA from the University of Leicester Management Centre, with his dissertation being The Challenge of Change in the Royal Air Force.[citation needed]

He became a Squadron Leader in 1997, moving to Turkey, and left the RAF after 18 years.

### Publications

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Following repatriation by the Red Cross, Peters co-authored a book, Tornado Down, with his navigator, John Nichol.[3] After leaving the RAF, he started a company, UPH, "to weave together the academic, experiential and outdoor to create an all-round improved-performance culture".[2]

## Personal life

[edit]

He is married to Helen and has two children.[3][2] The family live in Worcestershire near Bromsgrove. When at Cottesmore, and studying at the University of Leicester, Peters lived in Rutland.[7]

## References

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1. ^ a b Peters, John; Nichol, John; Hanson, Neil (1995). Team Tornado: Life on a Front-line Squadron. Signet. p. ii. ISBN 978-0-451-18206-7. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
2. ^ a b c d e Mesiha, Louis (28 December 2003). "What happened next?". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
3. ^ a b c d e Fox, Sue (31 July 1993). "How we met: John Peters and John Nichol". The Independent. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
4. ^ "121 Sqn. ATC - News - Pablo Mason". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
5. ^ "Arab Times -Leading English Daily in Kuwait".
6. ^ Tony Padman (9 April 2015). "Whatever happened to Gulf war hostage John Peters". Sunday Express. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
7. ^ "University of Leicester Bulletin September 1997" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2011.

## External links

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* UPH Ltd
* PBS documentary
* Page at Penguin Books

Authority control databases

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