About the Author

My love of aviation came late in my youth, despite our father introducing us to flight, I started when I was 12 years old, Dad taught me to handle and fly a DH82 Tiger Moth. Dad was never too keen on encouraging us for a career in flying as his own experience showed how temporary it could be. In fact when I joined Pan Am one of the esteemed engineers told me; “it is the best temporary job I will ever have!” as a young ultra- keen engineer, this did not phase me too much. But, as to how I suddenly became interested was my encounter with a partially disassembled Douglas DC3 with cables and wires hanging everywhere…it intrigued me as to how could this thing fly. No to mention the genius that went into the construction and design of aircraft. From that moment I looked up in newspapers and old magazines anything that would enhance my curiosity, in particular wartime magazines from England; “Aircraft Spotter”. Dad could see that my interest was intense, and so he opened up on his experiences as a test pilot and his war experiences, the rest is history.