Strachan Ian William

Ian William Strachan MBE, AFC, FRAeS was a Wing Commander in the UK Royal Air Force (RAF). He was Chief Test Pilot at the RAF research base at Farnborough and was a lecturer in Flight Simulation at the RAF College of Air Warfare. On retiring from the RAF he became an author of articles on military subjects, particularly on training and flight simulation.

He was also a glider pilot and was twice UK National Standard Class Champion. He also was chair of several gliding committees in the UK and internationally.

Early History

In 1959 he graduated from the RAF College, Cranwell, with pilot "wings" after flying the Miles Magister and Percival Provost, the Vampire and Gloster Meteor.

In 1960, he became a co-pilot on the Valiant bomber aircraft that was part of the NATO deterrent against the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pactallies. In this role he flew from the UK to air bases in Canada, Germany, and the USA. He was in the USA during the "Cuba Crisis" when the US Navy was able to turn back a Soviet fleet that was bringing missiles to Cuba that could have attacked the USA.

On becoming a Valiant Captain in 1963 he was posted to a squadron that specialised in Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR). In that role he refuelled fighter aircraft including Exercise "Shiksha" which refuelled Javelin fighters out to India. After India, he flew to Singapore, the HQ of the Far East Air Force (FEAF) of the RAF and then returned the Javelins to the UK.

In 1965 The Valiant suffered from metal fatigue due to turbulence at low levels, and flying was reduced except on tanker squadrons that had always flown at high altitudes. However, the entire Valiant fleet was grounded in December 1965 and Strachan may have flown the last Valiant sortie, refuelling Lightning fighters over the North Sea.

Flying Instructor

He then became a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) on the Jet Provost aircraft, progressing through instructional categories B2, B1, A2 and eventually A1 in 1968. He sent students solo and prepared others for their Final Handling Text (FHT) before they were awarded their RAF "Wings" at the end of the course.

Test Pilot

In 1969 he completed the Empire Test Pilot School (ETPS) course and on promotion to Squadron Leader became a Test Pilot at Boscombe Down near Salisbury, UK. This included flying and testing multi-engined aircraft including the UK "V" bombers (Vulcan and Victor), and 7 marks of Canberra. He also flew the Hunter and others with one engine, the Sea Vixen with 2, Tristar with 3, the Comet and others with 4, to a version of the Shackleton with 6 engines (4 piston and two jets).

Expert in operational Training

He was then posted to the Air Force College as a lecturer in training for military functions, including the best use of training flights and Flight Simulators. After visits to the US and other NATO countries and discussion with their training people, he became an expert in this area. He was able to increase the fidelity of training functions in "war games" at the college. He visited with teams from the RAF College and gave presentations to the UK Army and Navy, to headquarters in Germany, and to the Tri-Service college in Iran (the latter still under the Shah). For this work he was awarded an MBE.

Further Test Flying

On promotion to Wing Commander he was posted to Farnborough to command its test flying activity. He tested the use of TV to enable flight at low level at night. This started with "low-light" monochrome TV imagery and finished with images from the Infra Red region that were able to penetrate low visibility conditions. Speeds were increased to 420 knots and heights lowered to between 200 and 300 feet above the ground at night.

In addition, for the Institute of Aviation Medicine (IAM) he tested pressure-breathing under high "G" and reached 9.2G in a centrifuge and 6G for over 2 minutes in a Hunter aircraft. For this work he was awarded the AFC.

Ministry of Defence Flight Simulation Expert

He was put in charge of the Flight Simulator office in London. He soon found that due to opposition to flight simulators by people who wanted training to be on the aircraft, military flight simulators had become less capable than those used for civil airliners. However, simulation could include situations that were dangerous in the aircraft itself, and others that could not be flown in the aircraft such as those including a variety of both friendly and enemy aircraft that could be incorporated in the simulator's database.

He pushed these advantages of simulation within the Ministry, and became unpopular with some senior officers because at the time they wanted to continue most training on the aircraft itself and limit simulators to basic functions, which may have prevented further promotion in rank.

He retired in 1995 after a final year in which he was asked to analyse the future of the ETPS course and was able to conclude that it was still cost-effective and should continue.

Writer on Flight Simulation

For several years he edited the annual publication "Janes Simulation and Training Systems" (JSTS) and wrote articles in Flight Simulation for publications in the UK and USA.

Gliding activities

He was Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) of two gliding clubs and flew in regional and national Competitions in the UK, twice being UK Standard Class Champion. He was the first glider pilot in the UK to advocate the use of small retractable engines to avoid landing in fields if "lift" failed, and in the SF27M glider was allowed to fly "hors concours" in the UK Standard Class Nationals, with the engine specially sealed so that it could not be used on the competition flight but after landing could then be used to fly back to base if this was necessary. In this competition he flew well and was placed "above first" because as "hors concours" he was scored outside the main competition. - a unique event in UK gliding competitions.

In 1995 he became inaugural chairman of the GNSS Flight Recorder Committee (GFAC) of the International Gliding Commission (IGC) of the Federation Aeronautical Internationale (FAI). This produced rules for Flight Recorders (FRs) that still continue today after refinements over time. Over the years, some 60 different Approval documents have been published after testing of individual FRs both on the ground and in flight tests from Lasham, UK.

In 2007 he was awarded the FAI "Lilienthal Medal" for this and other work in sporting aviation, which was presented to him at the annual FAI conference in Santiago, Chile.

In 2023 Pete Purdie succeeded as GFAC Chairman and Strachan remains a member of the GFAC Committee.

Autobiography

At the end of 2023 his autobiography was published by Mereo Books with the title "Flying High" and the sub-title "From Air Cadet to Test Pilot and Gliding Champion". This has 280 pages, many pictures and has had several good reviews which are on the web.

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