As a colonel, he rose to a certain height (5)

I believe the answer is:

blimp

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'as a colonel he rose to a certain height' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

This is the entire clue.

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(Other definitions for blimp that I've seen before include "Elderly pompous reactionary person" , "David Low's cartoon colonel - airship used for publicity" , "needs cover when shooting" , "Airship - barrage balloon" , "aircraft" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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