Andrew Brookes completed RAF pilot training after graduating from Leeds University. Following recce and strike tours on Victors, Canberras and Vulcans during which he logged 3,500 flying hours, he joined the tri-service policy and plans staff of Commander British Forces, Hong Kong. After being in charge of the multi-engine, helicopter and flying training desks in the RAF Inspectorate of Flight Safety, he was appointed as the last operational RAF commander at the Greenham Common cruise missile base. He studied International Relations at Downing College, Cambridge, before becoming a group director at the RAF Advanced Staff College. From 1999-2009 he was aerospace specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Now the chief executive of the Air League, he publishes and broadcasts widely. He received the Defence Aerospace Journalist of the Year Award in 2004 and 2006. In 2009 he was awarded the C P Robertson Memorial Trophy for the best interpretation of the Royal Air Force to the public. He is chairman of the Independent Defence Media Association, a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute. He still has a private pilot's licence.