Simon Falla

Air Commodore Simon Owen Falla, CBE, DSO (born 1955) is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer. He was Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff Joint Helicopter Command from December 2006 until his retirement in June 2010.[1]

Simon Owen Falla
Born	1955 (age 64–65) Derbyshire, East Midlands
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1979–2010
Rank	Air Commodore
Commands held	RAF St Mawgan (2002–03) RAF Search and Rescue Force (2002–03) No. 7 Squadron (1996–99) No. 78 Squadron (1992)
Battles/wars	Falklands War Gulf War
Awards	Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order

Service history

• 1979 – Joined the Royal Air Force.
• 1980 – Selected for helicopter training.
• 1981 – Joined the newly formed Chinook force, with No. 18(B) Squadron at RAF Odiham.
• 1982 – Sailed with the Task Force during Operation Corporate, flying operational sorties over the Falklands Islands.
• 1983 – Joined No. 7 Squadron's new Chinook Special Forces Flight, flying operationally in Lebanon.
• 1986 – Qualified as a helicopter instructor at RAF Shawbury. Service followed with the Chinook Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Odiham, gaining A2 instructional category and qualified as a helicopter tactics instructor.
• 1989 – Promoted to squadron leader, appointed deputy commander No. 7 Squadron.
• 1990 – Assumed command of Special Forces Flight.
• 1991 – Led Special Forces Flight during Operation Granby over Iraq. Made Companion of the Distinguished Service Order for his command of the 6-Chinook SF Flight.
• 1992 – Spent six months as officer commanding No. 78 Squadron RAF, RAF Mount Pleasant.
• 1993 – Appointed the helicopter tactics and trials officer at the RAF Air Warfare Centre.
• 1995 – Following numerous short tours and courses, promoted to wing commander.
• 1996 – Officer commanding No. 7 Squadron RAF (until 1998).
• 1999 – Appointed UK air/joint advisor to the United Arab Emirates Command and Staff College, Abu Dhabi.
• 2001 – Promoted to group captain.
• 2002 – Station commander RAF St Mawgan[2] / Commander RAF Search and Rescue Force (until 2003).
• 2003 – Deputy assistant chief of staff (plans), Joint Helicopter Command.
• 2006 – Promoted to air commodore on appointment as deputy commander and chief of staff, Joint Helicopter Command.[3]

Post RAF

Falla is currently the training director at Ascent Military Flying Training System.[4]

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. Archived 1 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "Simon Falla - Ascent Flight Training". Ascentflighttraining.net. Retrieved 17 November 2017.

Military offices
Preceded by M W Leaming	Station Commander RAF St Mawgan 2002–2003	Succeeded by J A Goodboum
Preceded by Tony Johnstone-Burt	Deputy Commander Joint Helicopter Command 2006–2010	Succeeded by James Illingworth