Raymond Offord Air Commodore Raymond John Offord AFC RAF R ' td was a British Royal Air Force pilot , a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1970s and 1980s and the seventeenth Commandant Royal Observer Corps . Offord was Station Commander of RAF Lossiemouth from 1974 to 1975 and later held the dual appointments of Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters Cyprus and Deputy Commander , British Forces Near East / Cyprus . Service history . Early RAF career . Offord first joined the RAF as an Aircraft Apprentice on the 57th entry at the No . 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton . In February 1952 he transferred as a Cadet Pilot and was granted a short service commission on 27 February 1952 in a rank of Acting Pilot Officer that was made substantive in June 1953 . In June 1954 he was promoted to Flying Officer while serving with No . 56 Squadron RAF where he was the ground commentator for the RAF ’ s Firebirds air display team who flew English Electric Lightning s . In June 1957 he transferred to a permanent direct commission . Promotion to Flight Lieutenant arrived five months later in December 1957 . In September 1962 he was posted as a headquarters staff officer with the Special Projects Division of Headquarters Military Air Traffic Organisation , during which period he was promoted to Squadron Leader . On 19 July 1968 Offord was promoted to Wing Commander and he returned to flying duties as Officer Commanding No . 80 Squadron RAF flying English Electric Canberra s . In October of the following year he was transferred as Officer Commanding No . 31 Squadron RAF also on Canberra operations . After a short tour as a Staff Officer , with the Air Secretariat Division of the Directorate of Air Personnel , Offord was promoted to Acting Group Captain and appointed as the Station Commander of RAF Lossiemouth . His rank as a Group Captain was made substantive in 1975 and he was posted as the Operations Officer with RAF Germany . In December 1977 he was appointed as Assistant Chief of Staff ( Offensive Operations ) at Headquarters Second Allied Tactical Air Force . Royal Observer Corps . On 12 April 1980 Offord was promoted to Air Commodore and assumed the position of Commandant Royal Observer Corps , taking over from Air Commodore John Howe . Offord inherited an organization that was vastly more efficient and professional after sweeping changes introduced by his predecessor , but one whose communications infrastructure was creaking at the seams with outdated equipment and unprotected telephone links . Offord pressed for the improvements identified and recommended by a Home Defence Review to be implemented . The Emergency Control Network was woefully outdated and improvements were essential . The national air raid and nuclear fallout warning systems were given priority and the whole system was revitalized and re - equipped . Inter group radio communications were introduced . Offord was stunned by the primitive facilities and the stark environment in the underground monitoring posts and during 1981 he arranged for a HQ working party to re - examine the possible improvements with regard to future heating , lighting , ventilation and feeding provision that would eventually start to filter through over coming years . On behalf of the whole ROC , Air Commodore Offord presented an engraved Caithness Glass rosebowl to Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer to mark their wedding on 29 July 1981 . Offord oversaw the final closing of the last ROC secondary training base at Derby , the only remaining such facility that had survived since the 1953 reorganisation . By the end of Offord ’ s tenure as Commandant the upgrade of the warning system and post communications was all but completed . On 20 February 1983 Offord handed over control of the ROC to Air Commodore George Black . Later RAF duty . On leaving the Royal Observer Corps Offord was appointed Air Officer Commanding at the Air Headquarters Cyprus and also took on the dual role of Deputy Commander , British Forces , Cyprus . This was Offord ’ s final RAF tour of duty and he retired on 17 September 1986 . Ray Offord died in 2011 .