Air Commodore John Joseph Burke RAF, BSc  Ceng FIET

(Died May 18th 2024)

John was born in April 1930 in County Tyrone where his father was stationed with the RUC, however the family soon moved to Belfast where John attended St Mary’s Christian Brothers school and St Mary’s Teaching Training college. He then graduated in 1953 from Queen's with a BSc in Physics.

In November 1953 he joined the RAF beginning a career that would take him around the world while working on such diverse projects as Nuclear Weapons Research, ground breaking radar plane TSR2 and the UK Air Defence Ground Environment programme. He was on the last plane to leave the British colony of Aden where he and his family had spent 18 months at RAF Khormaksar.

He was later to become Station Commander at RAF Sealand in N Wales.
On retiring from the RAF, with the rank of Air Commodore in 1985, he worked at Dowty Engineering before becoming an independent consultant to the avionics industry. John was a fellow of the Institute of Electronic Engineers and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

He was also an active member of the QU Alumni and President of the London branch. On retiring completely from his working life he continued to play an active role in local communities first in Amersham and then in Shrewsbury where he and his wife moved  in 2008, they joined the local RAFA and he became president of the branch.

Throughout his life John enjoyed sports, at Queen's he played both basketball and Gaelic football, gaining a blue in the latter. He played rugby and golf during his time in RAF, he was an avid Ireland supporter in the Six Nations and never knowingly missed a match. In the year 2000 he was elected Captain of Moor Park Golf Club, Rickmansworth where he enjoyed hosting the annual QUL golf tournament. Golf continued to be a burning passion well into his later years.

John is survived by his wife of 69 years, Peggy, his children Rosemary, Sean, Margaret and Louise, and his eight grandchildren.