Military Wiki
Military Wiki
Ian Barrington "Barry" Gration
Born (1936-06-30)June 30, 1936
Place of birth Melbourne, Victoria
Allegiance Flag of Australia Australia
Service/branch Ensign of the Royal Australian Air Force Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service 1953 – 1994
Rank RAAF O9 rank Air Marshal
Commands held Chief of the Air Staff
RAAF Air Command
RAAF Base Richmond
RAAF Base Fairbairn
Awards Officer of the Order of Australia
Air Force Cross
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service
Relations General Peter Gration (brother)

Air Marshal Ian Barrington "Barry" Gration AO, AFC (born 30 June 1936) is a former senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, whose career culminated with his appointment as Chief of the Air Staff between 1992 and 1994.

Service career[]

Gration was educated at Scotch College Melbourne and joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1953, graduating with distinction from RAAF College, Point Cook in 1956 as a Pilot Officer, General Duties Branch.[1]

He served in a variety of flying and staff appointments from 1957 including a tour as flying instructor.[1] In 1965, Gration graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. In June 1970, Squadron Leader Gration was awarded the Air Force Cross[2] for his services to 34 Squadron as training officer and VIP captain.

He was subsequently appointed Station Commander at RAAF Base Fairbairn in the Australian Capital Territory, Director of Operations for the Air Force and then Station Commander at RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales.[1] He went on to be Director General Joint Operations and Plans at Australian Defence Force Headquarters in Canberra and then Head of the Australian Defence Staff and Defence Attaché at the Australian Embassy in Washington D. C.[1] He was appointed Air Commander Australia in 1990 and Chief of the Air Staff in 1992 before he retired from the RAAF in 1994.[1] He became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988.[3] He also holds the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air[4] in recognition of his role in flying training and air transport. His brother General Peter Gration was Chief of the Australian Defence Force.

Honours and awards[]

Order of Australia (Military) ribbon UK AFC ribbon

Centenary Medal (Australia) ribbon DFSM with Fed Star National Medal with Rosette Australian Defence Medal (Australia) ribbon

Order of Australia (Military) ribbon Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) 1988[5]
UK AFC ribbon Air Force Cross (AFC) 1970[6]
Centenary Medal (Australia) ribbon Centenary Medal 2001
DFSM with Fed Star Defence Force Service Medal with Federation Star for 40+ years of service
National Medal with Rosette National Medal with 1 clasp for 35 years of service[7][8]
Australian Defence Medal (Australia) ribbon Australian Defence Medal 2006
Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air 1966[9]

Notes[]

Military offices
Preceded by
Air Marshal Ray Funnell
Chief of the Air Staff
1992–1994
Succeeded by
Air Marshal Les Fisher
Preceded by
Air Vice Marshal Edward Radford
Air Commander Australia
1990–1992
Succeeded by
Air Vice Marshal Gary Beck


All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Barry Gration and the edit history here.