102-year-old spitfire pilot to travel to Normandy in honour of D-day Veteran and life-long friend

Jack is a former Squadron Leader and co-founder of international charity Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). His trip is in honour of Stuart King, the RAF Engineer Officer who served with 247 Fighter Squadron on D-day, operating Hawker Typhoons to provide close air support for ground forces in Normandy.

On receiving the invitation to attend events in Normandy, Jack said: “I often look on myself as a rarity, being a WWII survivor at the age of 102. But the camaraderie we will feel being together to celebrate D-day will be poignant. Knowing all these folk have been through what I have – and a lot worse – will be very humbling indeed. I’m immensely proud of Stuart and the D-day chaps; and I feel it’s a privilege to be alive today.”

Stuart sadly passed away aged 98 during the height of the 2020 lockdown with no formal funeral. So, Jack is retracing Stuart’s steps to remember his best friend on the momentous 80th anniversary.

Now aged 102, Jack was based in India between 1942 and 1946, flying Lockheed Hudson aircraft to protect the Bay of Bengal from the Japanese. He was promoted to Leader of 353 Squadron in 1945 and received the Air Force Cross for exemplary gallantry while flying. He was later awarded the RAF’s Master Air Pilot award in 2017 and performed aerobatics on his 100th birthday.

The remarkable veteran took control of a Spitfire in February 2024, and is thought to be the oldest British pilot to fly the iconic wartime aircraft. In doing so, Jack raised roughly £10,000 for MAF – the charity he and Stuart pioneered almost 80 years ago.

On receiving the Legion D’honneur in 2016, Stuart recalled: “We felt we were fighting for freedom and fighting against evil. During the first landings in Normandy, we were losing about 50 pilots every month. I doubt I would have survived if I had been one of those.

“We saw death and destruction for many years. War is terrible, and some of us – when we left the Air Force – felt God had something better. Aeroplanes could be used for more than death and destruction – and that is where MAF was born.

“I am grateful for the privilege both of being involved in the liberation of France, and later the liberation of many people from hardship, ill health and many difficulties across isolated parts of the world.”

After demobilisation, Jack and Stuart joined a handful of RAF airmen and women to rally support for a wooden Miles Gemini aircraft and launch MAF’s first British humanitarian survey of Central Africa in 1948.

The epic sortie saw Jack and Stuart embark on a 10-month recce to assess the needs of more than 100 remote communities, with little more than a map, compass, and the river Nile as their guide.

Today, MAF has grown to become the world’s largest humanitarian air service, delivering aid, medicine, and development opportunities to the world’s most vulnerable and isolated communities. Stuart served MAF throughout his life with Jack, a lifelong friend and committed MAF supporter.

Honoured to join hundreds of Veterans in Normandy – and make his first ever visit to the war cemeteries – Jack said: “I often look on myself as a rarity, being a WWII survivor at the age of 102. But the camaraderie we will feel being together to celebrate D-day will be poignant. Knowing all these folk have been through what I have – and a lot worse – will be very humbling indeed. I’m immensely proud of Stuart and the D-day chaps; and I feel it’s a privilege to be alive today.”

Now married to Kate – a French woman whose father was an undercover soldier serving alongside Charles de Gaulle in London during wartime – Jack reflects on the liberation of France in an even more meaningful way. The couple live in Horam, Sussex, and Jack has a son and three grandchildren – including Will Hemmings who will accompany his grandfather in Normandy.