COL PAUL Fry, chief of air staff for operations with the Irish Air Corps, has been appointed general officer commanding the Irish Air Corps.
Col Fry takes up the appointment which is vacated by Maj Gen Ralph James on his promotion to deputy chief-of-staff for operations in July last year.
Born in Dublin in 1956, Col Fry was educated in Sutton Park School in Howth, Co Dublin. He was awarded his “wings” in 1976, and commissioned as a pilot officer.
He has flown the full range of Air Corps operations, including search-and-rescue, air ambulance, ministerial air transport and maritime patrol. He is an experienced pilot, and a qualified flight instructor with more than 5,000 flying hours.
Col Fry graduated from the command and staff school of the Military College in 1994, and completed a strategic leadership course through the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, in 2010.
A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Col Fry has served in a wide variety of command and staff appointments during his career, including overseas service in the western Sahara.
As general officer commanding the Air Corps, Col Fry will also fulfil the roll of director of Irish military aviation, and is promoted to brigadier general when taking up his new role.