Commander Nathan Gray was the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm’s Top Gun, with more than 30 years of experience as a fighter pilot and instructor, flying more than 140 combat missions.
Raised in Stoke-on-Trent, he became a test pilot for the cutting-edge F35 fighter and earned the coveted Royal Marines green beret during his military career.
Nathan’s flying has taken him from the Californian coast of the United States to war zones in the Middle East. A seasoned fast jet operator, he is no stranger to leading high performance teams, championing cutting-edge design and testing next generation technology.
He was part of the ground-breaking $2 trillion F-35 development program and conducted the first-ever F-35 launch and recovery on the £3 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier.
He is now the CEO of a world -leading aviation publisher and continues to design and test eVTOL and renewable wind energy aircraft and unmanned drones.
Nathan was lucky to have survived one ejection from a Harrier Jump Jet in the early years of his flying career and is uniquely qualified as a commando green beret, paratrooper and forward air controller.
He is proud to be a UK STEM Ambassador and a Chartered Manager. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Chartered Management Institute, and the Institute of Leadership and Management, and is an Upper Freeman of The Honourable Company of Air Pilots.
A valedictorian graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School, Nathan also holds an honours degree in Aerospace Engineering and is a highly-decorated retired senior naval officer with gallantry awards from Her Majesty the Queen and meritorious service awards from the President of the United States.
The Award of Honorary Doctor of the University (Hon DUniv) is bestowed upon Nathan in recognition of his status as a hugely inspiring figure whose career reads like a fiction novel. Having survived a crash early in his career which aviation experts say was unsurvivable he went on to become the Royal Navy’s top fighter pilot, a test pilot for a multi-trillion-dollar international stealth jet development programme and earned the coveted green beret of a Royal Marine Commando.
The award also acknowledges that he has now transitioned to industry, where he uses cutting-edge technology and AI to work with pilots and drones.