He served as Chief of the Air Staff during the late 1980s, when the Boeing Airborne early warning and control system was ordered and the European Fighter programme was being developed.

He was granted a life peerage as Baron Craig of Radley after his retirement from active service in 1991, sitting as a crossbencher.

As of 2024, he is the last living officer in the British Armed Forces to have held a five-star rank whilst on active service.

[1] After attending the guided weapons course at the RAF Technical College at Henlow, he was posted to a missile evaluation site at North Coates.

[6] Promoted to wing commander on 1 January 1964,[7] Craig was appointed Military Assistant to the then Chief of the Defence Staff, Field Marshal Sir Richard Hull in June 1965.

[8] Craig was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1967 Birthday Honours[9] and, having been promoted to group captain on 1 January 1968,[10] he became Station Commander at RAF Cranwell later that year.

[19] He was promoted to the substantive rank of air chief marshal on 1 July 1983[20] and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1984 Birthday Honours.

[22] As Chief of the Air Staff he advised the British Government on the ordering of the Boeing Airborne early warning and control system and the development of the European Fighter programme.

[11] He was the Convenor of the Crossbench Peers in the House of Lords from December 1999 until July 2004 and Chairman of the Council of King Edward VII's Hospital from 1998 to 2004.