Born and residing in Malta, he started his career as General Manager Fores (Malta) Ltd in 1970, a fine art printing firm. Formed his own graphic design company, Tecnografica Design Centre, in 1981 catering for Malta’s main blue chip firms. In 1992 he became Director of Drum Productions, staging ‘Malta George Cross – The Wartime Experience’, a multi-vision show still running four times daily in Valletta. Director of Mirich Productions (1994), producing multi-media presentations. PRO of the Malta International Airshow (1993). Co-founder of the Malta Aviation Society (1970), Malta National War Museum (1973) and Malta Aviation Museum (1995).

His first aviation illustrations were published in 1970 by Ermanno Albertelli of Parma, Italy. These were soon followed by a 15-volume history of the Italian Air Force during WWII published by Edizioni Bizzarri of Rome. Other publishers in Italy include Stem. Mucchi of Modena, Ed. Napoleone of Rome and Giorgio Apostolo Editore of Milan. Air International was the first UK publication to use his work in 1976, followed by Air Enthusiast and Aviation News.

Between 1984 and 1991 he set up Modelaid International (later Air Forces International). His work has also appeared in Scale Aviation Modeller and Model Aircraft Monthly (UK), Aerei in Miniatura, Aerei e Elicotteri nel Mondo and Aerofan (Italy), Model Expert and Historia (Greece), Flug Review and AirDoc (Germany). Other publishers include Osprey Publications and Warpaint Books (UK), Isradecals Publications (Israel), Deyseg (Argentina), Fine Scale Modeler Specials (USA) and Malta Flypast (Malta).

He has also taken part in numerous exhibitions, with one-man shows in Malta (National War Museum, National Museum of Fine Arts) and collective exhibitions in UK, Belgium, Bratislava (Czech Republic) and Washington (USA).

Richard J. Caruana is also the author of 21 books published in Malta, UK, Italy and Greece. Among these there is one of Malta’s best selling titles ‘Malta George Cross – Victory in the Air’ (1996) now in its ninth reprint, and ‘Eclat’, commissioned by the RAF’s aerobatic team The Red Arrows on their 30th Anniversary (1995). He is also Malta’s leading stamp designer with 89 stamps, miniature sheets and postal cards to his credit.

In 2002 he was appointed Honorary Member of No. 203 Squadron, RAF, in recognition of services rendered to the squadron during its re-union in Malta in May of that year.