Career Details

Peter Gray joined the University of Birmingham on 1^st September 2008 as a Senior Research Fellow in Air Power Studies.  He retired from the Royal Air Force in June 2008 after a full career.  Peter’s early flying career as a navigator was spent in air defence duties on the Phantom F4; he later commanded 101 squadron flying VC10K tankers.   Staff appointments included 3 years in the Cabinet Office, Strategic Plans in MoD and as Director of Defence Studies for the RAF.  In this last appointment Gray taught on the Higher Command and Staff Course (HCSC).  His final job was as Director of the Defence Leadership and Management Centre within the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.

His first degree was a BSc in Maths and Physics from the University of Dundee; he later gained an LLB from London.  He then completed an MPhil in International Relations at the University of Cambridge.  Gray is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Current Research

Peter Gray is currently researching strategic leadership in Bomber Command during the Second World War for his PhD.

Current Teaching

Peter Gray teaches on all years of the BA in War Studies and has two Research Groups.  He is actively involved in the MA programmes for the First and Second World Wars.  Gray is developing an MA and an MPhil in Air Power Studies and plans to offer an undergraduate option in Air Power History in 2009/2010.

Postgraduate Supervision

Select Publications

‘Air Power History; Turning Points from Kittyhawk to Kosovo’, Ed with S Cox (Head AHB), (London: Cass, 2002). Chapter 17, The Balkans: An Air Power Basket Case.
 

‘Air Power Leadership – Theory and Practice’, Ed with S Cox, (Norwich: HMSO, 2002). Introduction and Chapter 10 ‘Dowding as Commander, Leader and Manager’.

‘Air Power 21 – Challenges for the New Century’, Ed, (Norwich: HMSO, 2000). Introduction.

‘British Air Power’, Ed, , (Norwich: HMSO, 2003). Introduction and Chapter 7, ‘Challenges for British Air Power in the Age of Transformation’.

‘Military History into the 21st Century’, Ed, Strategic Combat Studies Institute, Occasional No 43, December 2001. Introduction and Chapter 1, ‘Why Study Military History?

Book Chapters

The Falklands Conflict Twenty Years On; Lessons for the Future, Eds S Badsey, R Havers, M Grove, (Abingdon: Cass, 2005), ‘Air Power: Strategic Lessons from an Idiosyncratic Operation’.

The Normandy Campaign; Sixty Years On, Ed J Buckley, , (Abingdon: Cass, 2006),  ‘The Bombing of Caen’.

In Pursuit of Excellence: International Perspectives of Military Leadership, Eds Colonel Bernd Horn &Lt Col Allister MacIntyre, ‘Strategic Leadership Education’ (with Jonathan Harvey), (Kingston ON: Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2006).