The Grand Master's Medal
Awarded to an individual under the age of 30 for outstanding achievement and endeavour in any field of aviation.
2021 Awarded to: Flight Lieuteant Ryan Stowe RAF
At 28, he was one of just two aircraft captains trusted with the initial UK-French integration. Sent forward from Niger to Mali, he set about integrating Chinook heavy lift into the French Groupement Tactique Desert - Aerocombat (GTD-A). His efforts were so effective across the domains of tactics, air safety and command and control that the Chinooks were ready for operational tasking within just 48 hours after arrival at Gao. These first missions included transporting a new lorry axle to a beleaguered French convoy - a task personally briefed by the then PM Theresa May to the President of France during talks about the early success of the deployment.
On his last tour of Mali in early 2020 he was the Deputy Officer Commanding 1310 Flight, displaying outstanding managerial and leadership skills to deliver record operational output in support of the French. His humility, affability and compassion were also key components in helping to keep 94 UK personnel focused during a demanding and uncertain period following the initial outbreak of Covid-19.
Stowe has led multiple exercises at home and abroad. An outstanding example was his delivery and execution of ‘Ex Wessex Storm’ in December 2020. His mission was extremely challenging – to put an entire Battle Group from 16 Air Assault Brigade into multiple assault positions in one single wave of helicopters, something that had not been rehearsed for many years. This 21-ship Air Assault mission, comprising of multiple types of aircraft from the RAF and Army was the pinnacle of the training year. Despite Stowe’s relatively junior status and age, he was appointed as the Mission Commander and as such showed extraordinary levels of capacity and leadership. It is hard to overstate the immaculate attention to detail and coordination he demonstrated throughout. As a result, the largest single Rotary Wing lift of the British Army was executed immaculately by this impressive young officer.
This year, in addition to preparing A Flight for another tour of Mali, he is co-ordinating a multi-ship flypast for the Chinook 40th Anniversary. He is also raising several hundreds of pounds for charity through a prostate cancer charity bike ride. A young officer whose devotion to others and drive for excellence is insatiable, and richly deserving of recognition by the award of the Grand Master’s Medal.
Previous Winners:
1962/63 M P Glegg Esq
1963/64 D A Martin Esq
196465 T A Henderson Esq
1965/66 P G Hadgett Esq
196667 J W D Robertson Esq
196768 R J Barbour Esq
1968/69 A J E Tiley Esq
1969/70 C Redrupp Esq
1970/71 R G P Taylor Esq
1971/72 D Smethurst Esq
1972/73 G G Leask Esq
1973/74 J F Rothwell Esq
1974/75 G J Bressey Esq
1975/76 J F Nash Esq
1976/77 M J Thrower Esq
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1992/93 M D W Bowker Esq
1993/94 R Ka Fuk Cheung Esq
1994/95 W S Gilmour Esq
1995/96 Jamal Jamal Mohammed Jamal
1996/97 Matthew J Clatworthy Esq
1997/98 Emma Joanne Phelps
1998/99 Captain W I E Anderson
1999/2000 Pilot Ofiicer J S Clayton
2000/01 Nicholas Chan
2001/02 Flight Lieutenant Nicola Thomas
2002/03 Daniel Fonseca MEng (Hons) GradRAeS
2003/04 Philip Gareth Donovan
2004/05 Peter Charles Edward Nye
2006 - 2010 Not awarded
2010/11 Isabelle de Montet-Guerin
Captain Robert Shoenberg USAF
2012 - 2014 Not awarded
2014/15 Flight Lieutenant Christopher Gonzalez RAF
2016 Flight Lieutenant Colin Bostrom MSc RAF
2017 Captain Matthew A Shipp USAF
2018 Captain Alexander Horrell USAF
2019 Aaron Keith Pearce
2020 Technical Sergeant Zane Romick USAF
2021 Flight Lieutenant Ryan Stowe RAF