Tributes paid to Ex-RAF and humanitarian pilot who died aged 103

Jack was one of the early British pioneers to take a light aircraft from London to the remotest parts of Central Africa in 1948 – launching MAF which has grown to become the world’s largest humanitarian air service.

He was awarded the Air Force Cross for exemplary gallantry while flying and later received the RAF’s Master Air Pilot award in 2017. He is also believed to be the oldest British pilot to perform aerobatics and take control of a spitfire in 2024.

Jack died peacefully in his sleep on January 24 2025 in MAF’s 80th year – eight decades after the end of WWII where his RAF service began.

Kate Hemmings, Jack’s wife, who lives at their home in Horam, said: “’Lovely Jack’, the phrase that tripped off the tongue of so many people who met him for the first time. Indeed, those were my words after our first encounter.

“His drive was humanitarian, providing hope and relieving human suffering. Oh, my lovely Jack, this world will be very strange without you, but you’ve left it a better place for having lavished 103 years of love into it.”

Red Arrows Squadron Leader Graeme Muscat met Jack at various airshows – and the Red Arrows honoured him with a smoke flyover above his Sussex home in 2023 on his 102nd birthday.

Graeme said: ‘It is meeting pilots like Jack Hemmings – and witnessing the positive impact he has achieved through aviation – many of us still working in this field can use to spur us on to continue to do great things, and we can only hope to achieve a fraction of what Jack has.”

Social entrepreneur and Humanitarian NGO Executive Runa Khan met Jack in 2000, when he travelled to Dhaka and volunteered to help convert a river barge into a pioneering, NGO-operated floating hospital called the Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital (Friendship). Today, Friendship serves 7.5 million Bangladeshi people annually in some of the most remote and vulnerable communities.

Runa said: “At the age of 79, Jack not only became the first volunteer of Friendship, but took on one of the most demanding and crucial roles at the time. His help cannot be underestimated – he brought not only technical expertise but also humility, and moral fortitude. His impact extends far beyond the ship he helped create – his actions, a catalyst for a movement that continues to change lives to this day. Jack Hemmings embodied the very essence of what it means to serve others.”

The Venerable Dr (Air Vice-Marshal) Giles Legood – Chaplain-in-Chief at the RAF – met Jack at his Sussex home in December 2023 to congratulate him on ‘a life of devotion and service to others’, both as wartime RAF pilot and peacetime supporter of MAF.

Giles said: “Jack Hemmings has made an immensurable difference to the lives of many across numerous low-income countries. Indeed, many owe their lives to him and the legacy he has created. His quiet humility, yet determination to make a difference is inspirational.’

Jack leaves behind his son Adrian, wife Kate, and grandchildren William, Beatrice and Olivia.