Colonel Dr Allison Eke has made an exceptional and enduring contribution to military aviation across a distinguished 42-year career, shaping flying operations, aviation medicine, and safety across the United Kingdom Armed Forces while transforming opportunity and professional standards within the aerospace community.

In 1990, she became the first woman to qualify as a helicopter pilot in the British Army and the first female full-time pilot in any UK Service since 1948. This achievement marked a decisive inflection point in military aviation, breaking enduring barriers and establishing a legacy of inclusion that continues to influence recruitment, retention, and aspiration across Defence aviation.

Alongside her operational flying roles, including service at Netheravon and overseas, Colonel Eke developed a distinguished parallel career in aviation medicine, qualifying as a consultant in 1997. Over subsequent decades, she has played a central and sustained role in safeguarding the health, safety, and operational effectiveness of Army aircrew. Through her work in accident investigation, aircrew medical policy, and equipment design, she has delivered enduring improvements to aviation safety, directly shaping how risk to aircrew is understood, managed, and mitigated.

While serving at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency’s Centre for Human Sciences at Farnborough, later QinetiQ, she played a pivotal role in the introduction of the AH-64 Apache into UK service. Through rigorous human factors analysis, she identified and drove the resolution of critical man–machine interface issues, including aircrew harness and altimetry deficiencies, which would otherwise have presented significant safety risks. Her intervention ensured the safe and effective fielding of a complex frontline capability and established enduring benchmarks for aircrew-centric design that continue to influence modern platform development.

Her influence extends beyond technical excellence into governance, ethics, and professional leadership. As Chair of the QinetiQ Ethics Committee for eight years, she upheld the highest standards of scientific integrity and participant welfare in human research. As Deputy Responsible Officer for the Army, she operated at Army Board level, maintaining professional and ethical standards for Army doctors and reflecting national-level trust in her judgement and authority.

Colonel Eke’s commitment to service continues beyond uniformed duty. Through leadership of SSAFA at Wattisham, voluntary support to mental health services, and contribution to national resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, she has demonstrated a lifelong dedication to care, service, and public good.

Colonel Dr Allison Eke’s career is defined by pioneering achievement, technical authority, and sustained strategic influence. Her contributions have not only improved aviation safety and operational effectiveness but have reshaped the profession itself. She is an outstanding and wholly deserving recipient of the Sir James Martin Award.

Flight Lieutenant Lucy Froome was the lead for the RAF’s Enabling Female Aircrew project to improve the in-Service experience of female military aircrew. As a former Nimrod Navigator, Lucy has made, since 2022 and continues to make, a tangible difference in improving the safety of female military aircrew, with the bonus of related improvements to male Aircrew Equipment Assemblies (AEA). She is fully deserving of formal recognition; indeed, she doesn’t think she’s doing anything special, but her work touches the lives of many that disagree, which makes it even more fitting.

The RAF have had female aircrew since 1940 with Sergeant ‘Silver Jane’ Wynne-Eyton of the Kenyan Auxiliary Air Unit, the first to wear RAF wings before joining the ATA. Many female ATA Pilots followed as RAFVR Pilots post-war, with 5 presented their full wings in 1952/3. The first full-time female RAF aircrew graduated in 1962 as an Air Quartermaster, and in 1991 the first RAF pilot and navigator. However, throughout these 86 years the AEA continued to be designed to fit males, with females having to conform. For example, the trademark military flying suit is manufactured with 1971 male anthropometric data where females were deemed ‘small males’.

Against this context, Lucy took aim to improve the in-Service experience of female RAF aircrew, from scratch. This was a significant challenge, but one that Lucy embraced with real commitment. As female aircrew, she welcomed the impact she could make, with demonstrable and ongoing success, staffing solutions for female aircrew challenges, thus ensuring their ability to safely ‘fly and fight’ alongside their male colleagues.

Working collegiately alongside legal, medical and capability specialists, Lucy is the key intermediary to drive change for female Aircrew, and communicate it to them, their male peers and leaders; including the Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps. Without her passionate active involvement, many of the successes simply would not have happened. Collating a list of RAF female aircrew, she organised full body scans at several RAF Stations for 60% of the cadre. This key data proved that females were not small males and led to a new design of flying suit that gives better burn protection to the female form. This new AEA should be available in late-2026. A mother herself, she was instrumental in analysing policy on flying whilst pregnant; working closely with medical/legal experts to fully understand the risks, she submitted a decision brief to the highest levels of the RAF, which was fully endorsed. Her other key success is an in-flight urination and menstruation system, now in use on Typhoon and soon F35B. This is a gamechanger, stopping females from purposely dehydrating pre-flight; itself a flight safety risk. She is now researching female fit body armour and helmets. Whilst she cannot do the deep specialist aspects of the work herself, her interlocutor role is proving key to success. This also includes communicating the projects, which she does with significant passion.

In recognition of her outstanding contribution to improving the experience and safety of female military aircrew, Flight Lieutenant Lucy Froome is awarded the Sir James Martin Award.

1968/69  Lt Cdr Tarver

1969/70  Flt Lt R C Shuster

1971  not awarded

1971/72  Gp Capt J K Mason

1973  not awarded

1973/74  Col W P Schane

1975  not awarded

1975/76  Gp Capt A J Barwood

1976/77  E L Ripley Esq

1977/78  Flt Sgt D J Jones

1978/79  D Johnson Esq

1979/80  Lt Cdr D R Taylor MBE

1980/81  MALM David Bullock G C (posthumously)

1981/82  Geoffrey Harrison Esq

1983  not awarded

1983/84  Clifford Gaskell Esq

1985  not awarded

1985/86  Wg Cdr R McCluskey AFC RAF

1987  not awarded

1987/88  AVM P H Howard

1989  not awarded

1989/90  Lt Cdr Paul Barton RN

1991 - 1992  not awarded

1992/93  John W Chappelow Esq

1994  not awarded

1994/95  Flt Lt Kevin A Brooks

1995/96  Lt Cdr Paul Haywood RN

1997  not awarded

1997/98  Major J Norman Ryan MC

1998/99  Dr Christopher Brooks, OMM OstJ CD MBChB DavMed FFOM

1999/2000  Air Accidents Investigation Branch Lockerbie Team

2000/01  CPO Terrence Allison

2001/02 Lt Cdr Clive Rawson RN

2003  not awarded

2003/04  Sqn Ldr Jonathan James Harrison RAF

2004/05 Professor Helen Christine Muir OBE MA PhD CPsychol FRAeS

2005/06  John Freeman

2006/07  Captain John Cox

2008  not awarded

2008/09 Flt Lt Emily Rickards RAF

2009/10  David Cockburn

2010/11  Captain Linc Alexander

2011/12  Maj K E Bryan AAC

2013  not awarded

2013/14  Captain James Cunningham AAC

2014/15  Captain Mark Chesney

2016  The Performance Based Navigation (PBN) Research Project Team

2017  SkyDemon

2018  Dr Donough Wilson

2019  Lt Jonathan Moore RN

2020  814 NAS Survival Equipment Section

2021  Garmin

2022  David Howson

2023  not awarded

2024  Flight Lieutenant Peers Lyle RAF

2025  The RAF Poseidon Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract Team