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Mike retired from the RAF 5 years ago after a career of nearly 40 years as a multi engine aircraft pilot.  

With a number of still pictures and a few short video clips he is going to talk about his experiences with 2 Lancasters;- the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s  “City of Lincoln”, and the privately owned “Just Jane” of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby.

Mike graduated from the RAF College at Cranwell in 1976 and after flying training went on to the AEW (Airborne Early Warning) Shackleton at Lossiemouth. He then moved across the road to Kinloss and completed 2 flying tours and 2 ground tours with the Maritime Nimrod.

He escaped from Kinloss in 1989 on posting to Station Ops at Coningsby, with the ulterior motive of flying with BBMF.

As a “current” Lancaster pilot at the time, he was also asked to operate the East Kirkby Lanc when it was restored to taxying condition in 1995 and has continued to do so ever since.

After 9 years at Coningsby the powers that be decided it was time for him to return to a proper job, and he was posted to 51 Sqn at Waddington to fly the Nimrod R1, so he had to leave BBMF, but continued to taxi Just Jane.

Mike was kept pretty busy on 51 and he was involved in all the recent conflicts involving British forces such as the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. He had the doubtful honour of being the world’s last Nimrod pilot when on 29 July 2011 he delivered the last airworthy airframe to Kemble where it was prepared for its final destination at Cosford Museum.

He was then reduced to “flying a desk” at Waddington as the Station Flight Safety Officer for his last two years in the Service.

As a Volunteer Reserve pilot Mike has been able to continue to fly with the RAF until November last year providing Air Experience for Air Cadets at Cranwell at weekends.

Mike is very proud of the fact that his Father, John was also a Lancaster pilot, in WW2, and they often provided a unique double act at Coningsby and East Kirkby. Sadly, John passed away in 2004, but Mike is pleased that he appears frequently in the presentation.

Damien Lewis, renowned Author,  of books such as War Dog, presents his last book.

November 1941: an alien-seeming object is photographed by a lone RAF Spitfire over the French coast. Balanced upon the cliffs is what appears to be a large convex dish, directed across the Channel. With Britain’s cities being pounded by bombing raids, teams of experts scrutinised the image. Did the dish constitute a highly-secret form of radar – one that could tip war’s balance catastrophically in the enemy’s favour? Churchill demanded action. Agents of the Special Operations Executive – the shadowy ‘Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare’ – were despatched, to spy out the target’s defences. A top-secret mission was launched to steal what had become known as the ‘Wurzburg Dish.’ Only one option seemed feasible: a lightning airborne assault. But after Colossus, could a second such daring raid really succeed? Each rehearsal for Operation Biting proved disastrous. Seemingly a suicide mission in all but name, Commander John ‘Johnny’ Frost demanded blind loyalty from his wild, piratical crew. At the eleventh hour, there were two surprising additions: one, a shadowy German cloaked in mystery; the other a British radar specialist who could on no account fall into enemy hands.

Relying on files declassified for this book, eyewitness testimonies, and working with the families of key figures involved, Lewis reveals an epic of daring, scientific skulduggery, ruthless rule‐breaking and ingenuity beyond measure. The results of Op Biting would resonate throughout the war and beyond, changing the course of twentieth-century history.

A county standard swimming as a teenager Marc had his left leg amputated because of cancer when he was 17. His dream became to simply be the best that he could be and just 18 months after he finished his chemotherapy he was selected to represent Great Britain.

Marc competed internationally as a swimmer for 17 years; winning 12 Paralympic medals from 5 Games and a further 21 from either World or European Championships. In the past he has held world records for 200m, 400m, 1500m Freestyle and as well as being part of the team that held the world record for 4 x 100m Freestyle. At the London 2012 Paralympic Games worked for the BBC as a commentator and presenter, as well as performing in the opening ceremony.

Marc founded the Leadership Advisory business, Equiida, and now spends his time working with organisations around the world as an executive coach and speaker. He focusses this work around developing personal awareness, taking responsibility, leadership effectiveness, teamwork and inclusion.

Marc has written three books. Most notably Personal Best, a combination of his inspirational life story and personal development advice, and more recently Beyond the Call which, supported by research from New York University, looks at how to create conditions within an organisation that make discretionary effort more likely.