[1] At the outbreak of the Second World War, Rowlands joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

He was promoted to the rank of flying officer in the Technical Branch on 7 October 1940,[3] and to temporary flight lieutenant on 1 December 1941.

[7] He was given a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force in September 1945 with the rank of flight lieutenant[8] and attended RAF Staff College in Haifa in 1946.

On 4 June 1968, he was appointed Director-General of Ground Training, with the acting rank of air vice marshal,[13] made substantive on 1 July.

[16] On retirement from the RAF, he briefly became an administrator at Queen Mary College, University of London and then, from 1974 to 1980, assistant principal of Sheffield Polytechnic.