Rod Dean joined the Royal Air Force is September 1962 and spent just over 21 years in the service. During that period he was continually involved, after training, in flying on either operational squadrons or Operational Conversion Units/Tactical Weapons Units. These included, on the Hunter, 43 Squadron in Aden, 229 OCU at RAF Chivenor and 208 Squadron in Bahrain. A further tour at Chivenor on 79 Squadron was followed by a tour at RAF Bruggen, Germany on the Jaguar. After promotion to Squadron Leader, a posting to Brawdy as OC 79 Squadron completed his flying with the RAF. His final tour before retiring from the RAF was on loan to the Sultan of Oman’s Air Force as a QFI flying the Jaguar and the Hunter.
In 1972 and 73 he was the Strike Command Hunter display pilot at RAF Chivenor when he flew some 50 public displays over the two seasons and was the winner of the first WD & HO Wills Solo Jet Display Trophy at the North Weald International Air Tattoo in 1972. He left the service as a Squadron Leader and as a Qualified Flying Instructor and Qualified Weapons Instructor.
After leaving the RAF, Rod spent ten years as the Business Manager for a flight simulator training company followed by fifteen years with the Civil Aviation Authority. When he left the CAA he was the Chief Executive Officer of Air Safety Support International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the CAA tasked with overseeing civil aviation regulation in the UK Overseas Territories. Prior to this appointment he was the Head of the General Aviation Department. He was, most recently, the Flight Operations Consultant (and Flying Display Director during the 2010 and 2012 Airshows) for Farnborough International Limited, the organisers of the Farnborough Airshow. Rod is now the Flying Display Coordinator for a number of well know flying displays such as those at Blackpool and the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
He spent many years instructing on light general aviation aircraft and has been displaying civil aircraft since 1984 when he retired from the RAF. Rod has flown a wide variety of World War II and immediate post-war piston fighters such as the Mustang, Corsair, Wildcat, Sea Fury, Bearcat, Hurricane, Harvard, Skyraider and, favorite of all, the Spitfire. He has also flown a number of vintage jet aircraft such as the Meteor, Vampire, Venom, T33, F86 Sabre and, not surprisingly, the Hunter. He continues to fly, and display, a variety of light aircraft such as the Slingsby T67M, the Harvard and Provost.