Educated at St. Benedict's College, Colombo Perera joined the newly formed Royal Ceylon Air Force on 21 September 1951 in the first batch of locally trained officer cadets.
He became the first general duties (pilot) branch officer to be appointed Director Administration.
1983, saw a surge in flight operations in the SLAF with the escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
In his tenure, the air force acquired Bell 212 and Bell 412 helicopters that were used as transports and gunships and the SLAF introduced SIAI Marchetti SF.260TP in light attack role having retired its jet fighters in the late 1970s.
In 1982, he became the first SLAF commander to be awarded the Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya and on 1 October 2007, he was promoted to the rank of Air Chief Marshal.