Chris Henderson trained as a communications engineer with the BBC and worked on the first series of ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘Pinky and Perky’ in Manchester before moving to Broadcasting House.
In 1966 he decided to leave broadcasting and joined the Royal Air Force for training as a navigator. On completion of his flying training courses he was posted to the V-Force and was the first ‘ab initio’ navigator plotter on Vulcan B2s. After his first tour on 35 Sqn at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, he returned to the UK and 617 Sqn at RAF Scampton where he met Sir Barnes Wallis on the 30th anniversary of the Dams Raid. Further training and a staff appointment at the College of Air Warfare followed.
He completed the RAF’s GD Aerosystems post-graduate course before appointments at the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE), RAF Boscombe Down, where he was responsible for evaluating the Jaguar’s weapon aiming and navigation system. He was then attached to the Flight Test Dept at BAe Warton as the A&AEE liaison officer involved in the testing of both versions of the Tornado. He was the first RAF navigator to fly a production Tornado F2 fighter as well as several of the prototypes which included one test sortie involving rapid-rolling at Mach 2. His last flying tour was as a squadron commander at the Air Navigation School, RAF Finningley before his final two tours as a staff officer in NATO Headquarters in the Netherlands and Italy.
After retirement to the Yorkshire Dales he has been involved in IT training in Further Education and local businesses. Pastimes are photography, cooking, golf and railway history.