Born in 1916, he was commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1937. Severely wounded in action in the Battle of France, he returned to combat flying in England in 1941, leading a Spitfire squadron on offensive sweeps over occupied France. In 1942 he was sent to the India/Burma theatre to revise their fighter tactics. Invalided home in early 1944, he was later posted to SHAEF Belgium, and ended the war as a Wing Commander Operations in the War Room of the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Germany. A dedicated Europhile, he was working on a history of Anglo-French relations when he died in 1969.