Barry Gration
former Chief of the RAAF
Air Marshal Ian Barrington "Barry" Gration (born 30 June 1936) is a former senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), whose career culminated with his appointment as Chief of the Air Staff from 1992 to 1994.
Early life
Gration was born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 30 June 1936 to David Roy Gration and his wife Margaret (née Fleming). David, a dental mechanic, had served in the First World War as a sapper on the Western Front and later enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps during the Second World War, discharging with the rank of corporal in 1945. Like his elder brother, Peter, Barry was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne.
Service career
Gration joined the RAAF in 1953, graduating with distinction from RAAF College, Point Cook in 1956 as a pilot officer, General Duties Branch.
He served in a variety of flying and staff appointments from 1957 including a tour as flying instructor. 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 for his services to No. 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.
The public source identifies “Barry Gration” as former Chief of the RAAF. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Barry, Gration and former.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4864275. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 1992, 1994 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “Barry Gration” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.