THE new command for Wing Commander Nigel Guz is also almost a homecoming,

He has just taken the reins of XI (Fighter) Squadron at RAF Leeming, taking over from Wing Commander Mick Mercer who has been posted to the Ministry of Defence.

Born in Middlesbrough, he was brought up in Billingham, where his parents, Stan and Joyce, and three brothers still live.

Educated at Brunner Secondary School and Bede Sixth Form College, Billingham, he got a first-class honours degree in aeronautical engineering at Southampton University.

He has completed three consecutive air defence tours in Tornado F3s, clocking up more than 2,000 hours, and has served in the Far East, the former Yugoslavia, the South Atlantic, the US and east Mediterranean.

He came to Leeming following a tour in command of the Eurofighter Operational Evaluation Unit at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.

A married man, he and his wife Alison have a daughter, Victoria