Sir "Paddy" Hine GCB, GBE (born 14 July 1932) is a former senior Royal Air Force commander. Most notably, he was joint commander of all British forces during the first Gulf War.

RAF career

Paddy Hine was born near Southampton, England and was educated at Peter Symonds School in Winchester. He was an amateur golfer, winning the 1949 Brabazon Trophy.

As a junior officer, Hine flew the Gloster Meteor and then the Hawker Hunter. From 1957 to 1959 he performed on the Black Arrows, then the RAF’s aerobatics display team. In 1962 he was appointed Officer Commanding No. 92 Squadron.

In 1975 he was appointed Director of Public Relations for the RAF. He was made Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ RAF Germany in 1979 and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy) at the Ministry of Defence in 1981. He became Commander of the Second Tactical Air Force and Commander-in-Chief of RAF Germany in 1983.

He became Vice Chief of the Defence Staff in 1985 and in late 1987 he was appointed Air Member for Supply and Organisation.

He was appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Strike Command in 1988. He was Joint Commander of all British forces during the first Gulf War.He was the officer who allowed experimental vaccines on the forces during the gulf war.

He retired from the RAF in 1991 and subsequently became a military advisor to British Aerospace from which he retired in April 1999. Two years earlier, in 1997, he was made the King of Arms of the Order of the British Empire, making him the Herald to the Order of the British Empire.

Family

He is married to Jill; they have three sons.