Air Marshal Sir Peter Norriss, an RAF Club Member of over 57 years, has died aged 80. He tested the Prince of Wales during his flying training before flying Buccaneer and Tornado aircraft. He went on to fill senior appointments in the MoD operational requirements directorate and the procurement executive.

By the time Norriss joined his first operational squadron, he had already established himself as an excellent pilot and flying instructor. As a member of Cambridge University Air Squadron, he was awarded the Hack Trophy as the best aerobatic pilot, his highly experienced flying instructor during his basic flying training assessed him as the best student he had taught, and later, when he was a flying instructor, in competition with fellow instructors, his aerobatic display won him the Wright Jubilee Trophy. With these achievements in the flying training environment, Norriss went on to become an excellent operational pilot in the strike attack role in Germany and in the UK.

He joined the RAF in 1966 and immediately after gaining his pilot’s “wings”, he was selected to attend the Central Flying School to train as a flying instructor. On completion of the course, he trained flight cadets at the RAF College Cranwell. During this period, he tested the then Prince of Wales, who was undergoing his pilot training at the College, on his navigation test which he assessed as “above average”. He continued to enjoy aerobatics and was a member of the College display team, the Poachers, and was the solo aerobatic display pilot.

Under Norriss’ leadership, 16 Squadron deployed from Laarbruch to Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base in Arizona, without air-to-air refuelling, crossing the Atlantic from St Mawgan in Cornwall to Gander in Newfoundland via the Azores. The final leg from a base in Texas to Nellis was completed at low level and took the aircraft along the length of the Grand Canyon, before arriving in a diamond nine formation to impress their USAF hosts.