The Carlyle Group, one of the biggest buyout houses in the world, is used to recruiting top talent. But the latest addition to the Carlyle Aerospace and Defence team can say with certainty that he is "the best of the best".

As a former fighter pilot in the US Air Force, he was asked to attend an elite training establishment at Miramar, California. The US Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The pilots call it Top Gun.