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Visit this website  to see pictures of British Hawker Hurricane Mark IIb fighter – BE208. To my surprise my father – Flt Sgt. Ron Chapman of (xxx)-  played a 6,000km part in its long journey from the UK to Asia.

This wedding photograph of my late parents – Ron and Monica Chapman – at St. Stephen’s Church, St. Albans, October 1946, was familiar to me growing up. After researching my father’s WW2 diary, discovered after both had died, it threw up a number of questions.

My WW1 veteran grandfather John “Jack’ Chapman very likely worked on a highly secret WW2 RAF project being developed close to his home by De Havilland – the ‘wooden wonder’  Mosquito aircraft. 

Growing up, neighbours and acquaintances treated my father with an awed respect. They knew he ‘did his bit’ in the War. Sadly respect wasn’t automatic for all veterans – even those displaying incredible bravery.

The story behind the antics of Leo the pilot-scaring Lion (Episode 7 ‘Leo and the Gold Smugglers’) is likely to resonate with anyone who served in the forces. When ferry pilots took off from El Fasher, Sudan along the Takoradi Route, to their alarm they might see a lion grab the ‘chocks’ from under their…

January 1, 1942 was a normal working Thursday for my grandparents, John and Jane Chapman. No Bank Holiday. Their son, Flt Sgt Ron Chapman had been in a plane crash. 

When Ron Chapman left St.Albans school in 1937, he could hardly have suspected that just five years later he would be piloting warplanes in the Middle East, part of the heroic fight against Nazi Germany. Much less being commemorated in  the school’s magazine some eighty years later. Now the school’s magazine Versa has posted an…

Two close pilot friends of my father, killed during WW2, appear in Blighty Thank God. Their stories are particularly poignant and highlight why Remembrance Day is so important.

If you are trying to research the history of a loved one who was in the military or a particular subject, how do you navigate the thousands of documents? You could do it yourself.

‘Blighty Thank God’ features two beautiful versions of The Last Post on different instruments than the bugle, on which it’s traditionally played. One is on violin, played by Rachel Bostock (@rachelbostockmusic ); the other on guitar by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. The Last Post is sounded at military funerals to indicate that the soldier…