Richard P. Hallion holds a PhD in history from the University of Maryland, and has completed specialized governmental and national security programmes at the Federal Executive Institute and the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He has held many high-profile posts, including as a Curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum; as the Charles Lindbergh Professor at the National Air and Space Museum; and as The Air Force Historian. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Royal Historical Society, and an Honorary Member of the Order of Daedalians who has flown as a mission observer in a wide range of military aircraft. He is based in Shalimar, Florida.