Former Cold War fighter pilot and Deputy Lieutenant of Devon Sir Michael Steer dies

Air Chief Marshal, Sir Michael Steer, has was born October 11, 1938, and died on January 5, 2020, aged 81

Tributes have been paid to a Cold War fighter pilot who served on squadrons in the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Germany.

Air Chief Marshal, Sir Michael Steer, has was born October 11, 1938, and died on January 5, 2020, aged 81. He is survived by his two sons and a daughter.

After serving the squadrons, he assumed senior RAF and NATO command appointments.

He is known to many in Mid Devon after moving to Dulford with his wife Elizabeth “Lizzie” Macrae who he married in 1966. During their retirement, they kept geese, chickens and 45 Dutch sheep which they had acquired during their time in Holland. For 40 years they bred golden retrievers. He received devoted support from his wife, and her death in 2015 deeply affected him.

After moving on from Dulford, they moved to Hemyock, where he remained until his death. Mike and Lizzie were a very sociable couple, and many in Hemyock will remember with fondness a jazz evening held in the grounds of their home. Both were regular attendees at St Mary’s Parish Church.

Michael James Douglas Stear was born in Southampton on October 11 1938. He was educated at Monkton Combe School. In August 1957 he began his National Service in the RAF, serving in Hong Kong as a junior technician. He went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read Oriental Languages, joined the University Air Squadron and started training as a pilot.

On graduation, he joined the RAF as a regular officer. After training as a fighter pilot, he joined 1 Squadron based in East Anglia to fly Hunters in the fighter ground-attack role. After two years he left for the Middle East to be the weapons leader of 208 Squadron based in Bahrain.

He coordinated the development of various low-level tactics, including skip bombing from 50 feet and dive attacks with a more advanced rocket. His work was recognised by the award of a Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.

From April 1969 he served with the USAF’s 434th Tactical Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base in California, where he trained fighter pilots on the Phantom prior to their assignments to Vietnam.

After a period in the RAF’s personnel directorate, he was promoted to wing commander, and in November 1974 he assumed command of the Phantom-equipped 17 Squadron based on the Dutch/German border. In addition to operating in the fighter ground attack role, the aircraft was also tasked in SACEUR’s (Supreme Allied Commander Europe) nuclear strike plan, with one aircraft and crew holding a 15-minute readiness state.

When 17 Squadron replaced its Phantoms with the Jaguar, Stear returned to the UK to take command of 56 Squadron, flying the Phantom in the air defence role. In December 1976 he was appointed the personal staff officer to the Chief of the Air Staff. For most of the next two years, he served Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Beetham, a demanding master.

Beetham appreciated Stear’s hard work and advice and offered him command of a Phantom base or the opportunity to fly the Harrier. He was attracted by the challenge of flying the RAF’s “jump jet” and, after a period of refresher flying, in March 1980 he assumed command of RAF Gütersloh in West Germany, the home of two Harrier and two helicopter squadrons. During his two-year appointment, he also flew as the first pilot on the Wessex and Puma helicopters. As the Harrier Force Commander, he deployed to remote, dispersed sites to provide close support for the Army’s operations in the forward area. At the end of his tour, he was appointed CBE.

After a period at HQ Strike Command, in August 1985 he became the Air Officer Commanding No 11 (Fighter) Group. During his period of office, the new air defence variant of the Tornado began to replace the ageing Phantoms.

After two years in the MoD Central Staffs, he took over No 18 Group.

In October 1989 he was promoted to Air Marshal to be the Air Officer Commanding No 18 (Maritime) Group, with additional Nato responsibilities in the Eastern Atlantic and the English Channel. His headquarters at Northwood were co-located with the Commander-in-Chief Fleet. This was a very different operational environment for him, within which the mainstay of his force was five squadrons of Nimrod maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft.

He immediately set about discovering the intricacies of the role, including piloting the four-engine Nimrod and proved to be an excellent AOC who had a good and easy rapport with all ranks in the Nimrod force.

With his fast-jet background, he paid particular attention to his Buccaneer strike/attack squadrons based at Lossiemouth. He converted to the aircraft and continued to fly it on exercises when time permitted.

After Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, three of his Nimrods were deployed to Seeb in Oman to conduct patrols in the Persian Gulf, and they continued to operate throughout the conflict.

Stear believed his Buccaneers, with their unique low-level laser target-marking capability, should be deployed to the operational area. In preparation, he instructed the squadrons to devise medium-level tactics as a contingency plan.

In the event, soon after the conflict broke out, six aircraft were deployed to Bahrain, where they provided critical support for the Tornado bomber force. When the force, by then up to 12 aircraft, returned on March 17, he flew to Lossiemouth to welcome them back.

In 1993, on promotion to Air Chief Marshal, he became the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe, with his headquarters at Brunssum in Holland. When told his favourite aircraft, the Hunter, was due to make its last flight in RAF service, he flew to Lossiemouth, and later in the day, with the squadron leader as his co-pilot, he flew the aircraft at low level to Scampton, where he made the last landing by an RAF Hunter.

He retired from the Air Force in October 1996, having been appointed KCB in 1990.

Stear was a long-standing member of the Royal Air Force Association and served as vice-president of the European Area (1992-96). He was elected vice-president of the National Association in 1997 before becoming president a year later. He was also president of the 208 Squadron Association (1993-2004). In 1997 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society

In 1998 he became the RAF Commissioner on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and later chaired its remuneration committee. He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Devon in 2000.

Stear had a lifelong passion for rugby, and as a burly prop forward had represented Cambridge University, the RAF and the Combined Services. He played for Hampshire in the 1962 County Championship final, losing narrowly to Warwickshire at Twickenham. The following year he was in the Combined Services team that played the All Blacks.

Later he was involved in coaching the RAF Colts and became chairman and then president of the RAF Rugby Union and president of the Combined Services.

Between 1987 and 1998 he was the RAF representative on the Rugby Football Union Committee (later Council) and for his final year served as vice-chairman of the management board.

During his playing days, he also represented the United Services, Portsmouth (where he was known as “Piggy” Stear), forming a formidable alliance in the front row with a Royal Marine and a Royal Navy stoker. Some years later, he attended a reunion in Portsmouth, where his former stoker chum greeted him by saying: “Hello Piggy – you must be a friggin’ air marshal by now,” to which the modest Stear replied: “Well yes, I am actually.”

Stear was a man of integrity, determination and courage. A former Chief of the Air Staff said of him: “When the going got tough Mike Stear was the man to be at your shoulder.”