As a young boy life was tough. His mother died when he was 6, his father when he was a young teen, he was brought up by his sisters and would watch the Luftwaffe bomb Glasgow using the Clyde as a guide. On joining up, he was posted to Egypt where he met first hand the brutality of war.

After serving 10 years in the RAF he would experience a wide range of aircraft in both the Middle East and here in his native Scotland and Lincolnshire. He tells his stories today with great detail and perhaps occasionally a little ’embellishment’.

But he is the man who gave me my love of aviation.

Who is he and what did he experience?

My father in his early days in the RAF