Despite being paid by the Queen to fly her military fast jets around the sky as his day job, John wanted more. As an impecunious junior officer he managed to buy an Auster from a kindly farmer who lowered the price until it reached the sum the young man could afford. When he was a middle ranking officer he manoeuvred his career to place himself at RAF Coningsby because this would give him access to the Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. As the RAF would put it – he filled his boots. In short, he’s an aviators’ aviator who loves to fly and lives to fly. After retiring from the Air Force as a very senior officer he served a term as President of Europe Air Sports, presumably to fill the time between flights in various warbirds and the aircraft of the Shuttleworth Trust collection for whom he was a trusted pilot. He then accepted an invitation from the Light Aircraft Association to be their President but he was not content to be simply a figurehead – he attended most Board meetings and played a full part in the diplomacy and negotiations which are part and parcel of the work of that organisation.