At 13, I joined the ATC where my modelling education proper began. I was soon building control line stunt and combat models. Our squadron had a C/L Stunt demonstration team which displayed at local air shows and country fairs. I was taught to fly radio control at the age of 14. I had learned to fly full size gliders in the ATC and continued whilst in full time further education. Modelling took something of a back seat during this time, but once I was at work, I began to build several slope soarers and a couple of power models. I joined the West Yorkshire Model Flying Club at this time. In the late 70’s I began to be interested the possibilities of electric flight. After a great deal of failure, I put my education to work to build better performing equipment Such as inverter battery chargers and Electronic Speed Controllers, as well as rewinding motors to serve as prime movers. By the early 1980’s I had several successful electric powered gliders and powered aerobatic models. All these items are taken for granted these days and are readily available. I was always interested in scale models and started building scale gliders and powered scale models. Several where own designs, with mixed success. In the late 1990’s I became interested in Ducted Fans and built several models of this type. I made a lot of new friends at this time, most of which are still close fiends now, but some are passed, but not forgotten. After finally finding my stride in ducted fan, turbo jet engines appeared on the scene. For the last 20 + years I have spent most of my spare time pursuing jet flying. In 2003, with a close friend we founded the Elvington Model Flyers, a specialist club for Jet flyers. I am honoured to be the chairman of this club. I have also severed several periods on the committee of the West Yorkshire club and that is may current position. In 2019 I was asked if I would help the Northern Area which was very short of members. I then took on the role of Delegate for the northern area. Subsequently I volunteered to work with a group of members from different areas to examine the purpose and direction of the BMFA areas. We have worked on a revised, updated and more relevant constitution for the BMFA areas as well as a revised guide to the constitution. I continue to be a life-long modeller, flying jets, gliders, scale and electric. I plan to dabble in multicylinder petrol-powered scale shortly too. There is always something new to learn and new challenges to overcome.

After joining Cardiff High school I moved on to control line and self stabilising ( pendulum control ) free flight which was not that effective! This made me look more seriously at Radio Control which was in those days single channel and really only one step beyond a free flight model. I built the Aeromodeller no1 receiver and transmitter and after much experimenting and reading of text books on electronics was finally able to make it work. I then progressed to constructing 12 channel reed transmitter and receivers which presented new challenges. Unfortunately this spelt the end of my interest in Aeromodelling as I found solving the problems and designing and testing electronic systems very absorbing. This new knowledge proved to be of use in the newly formed South Wales Amateur Rocketry Group (SWARG) which was a consortium of secondary schools in Cardiff. My contribution to SWARG was in designing, constructing and testing the rocket and ground antennas and telemetry systems. SWARG had several successful flights until the government decided to stop allowing MoD facilities to be used for amateur rocket launches. I then undertook a degree in Electronic Engineering with Physics and obtained my amateur radio transmitting licence. On graduating I joined the BBC Engineering Research Department. I was fortunate that my day to day work was of an advanced nature and over a two year period it facilitated a collaborative or external PhD in Electronic Engineering with Surrey University. At that time I had a young family with strong ties in Wales. We returned to Wales where I become a Medical Physicist at Velindre Hospital Cardiff. Later, in 1980 I become a Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at Swansea University. I was able to introduce aeromodelling related projects to final year students so this began the return to my hobby. I continued this theme when I later became a Professor in Electronic Engineering at Cardiff University. In 2016 I left academia to become full time employed in my own research company. Then came Covid 19 which mean that I spent more time at home and I took the opportunity to focus on aeromodelling. This made me more aware of how relevant it was that Wales was actually a country with its own laws and Parliament. Laws in England allowed clubs in England to be open for flying but laws in Wales meant clubs there were closed. My academic and professional career had required me to be involved in many committees and I enjoyed the challenges that they presented. I joined Swansea Model flying club in the mid 80s and passed my 'A' 1991. In 2021 I become a committee member of Swansea Model Flying club and in 2022 I became the Mid West Area Delegate. My aim is to improve communication between our clubs and BMFA and to look for grant funding opportunities which may arise. This is proving to be a challenge as the Area is split between two countries and two governments. As a resident of Wales it seems appropriate for me to use the access this gives me to the Welsh Government to explore how the BMFA can better support our clubs in Wales I am now practising for my 'B' certificate!

After Fleet training and professional courses he moved on to be the Navigating Officer of HMS Kirkliston and then HMS Bereton before commencing flying training as an Observer in 1989. Initially qualified on the Lynx Mk3 helicopter operating from Frigates and Destroyers, he held several appointments with 829, and 815 Naval Air Squadrons as the Flight Observer and then the Flight Commander including operations in the first Gulf War and the Mediterranean. In 1994 he became a Qualified Observer Instructor training Lynx Aircrew and as serving as the Operations Officer of 702 NAS based at RNAS Portland. After a final appointment back with 815NAS as the Type 23 Senior Flight Commander in HMS Somerset deployed to the South Atlantic he joined the Staff of Flag Officer Sea Training at Devonport in late 1997 as a Staff Warfare Officer conducting Aviation training at sea for RN and NATO warships. In 1999 he returned to flying duties and completed a conversion course to the Merlin (EH101) helicopter at Westlands in Yeovil. The initial cadre of aircrew were based at RNAS Culdrose and charged with bringing the Merlin into Service and establishing the Merlin Training System which became 824 NAS later in 2000. As a Merlin instructor with specific responsibility for developing and accepting the simulators into service, he worked very closely with CAE, the contractor, in Canada to validate software and hardware and then oversaw the subsequent installation at Culdrose. In 2002/2003 he was employed as the Senior Operations Watch-keeper working with the Coalition partners at the UK National HQ in Qatar for the war-fighting phase of Operation Telic in Iraq. On return to Culdrose and the Merlin he became the Senior Observer in 829 NAS, re-commissioning the Squadron in 2004 and using his Lynx sea experience in establishing links between the parenting organisation and the frigates. Since 2009 he has been back with FOST in Devonport training ships at sea. Having started his modelling career with control line flying as a teenager in the 70s his first model was a Kiel Kraft plastic Hurricane. He progressed to built-up models and some free flight ducted fans, but drifted away from modelling when he went to college. Returning to the hobby and R/C power flying in 2000 when he joined the Culdrose Model Flying Group, he became the Chairman of RNMAA and BMFA representative in 2007. In addition he is now also a member of several clubs in Devon and Cornwall and has been involved with the Devon and Cornwall Sub-Areas since 2009. He has held fixed wing ‘A’ Certificate since 2002 and was invited to fly before the full size aviation at Culdrose Air Display in 2006, so worked-up and successfully passed the ‘B’ that summer. He flies mainly larger R/C scale and semi-scale fun fighters at the summer shows, but is also very keen on EDF models, having designed and built several models of British aircraft from the 50s and 60s. He also dabbles in electric R/C (up to 200W size motors), rocketry (up to E Impulse) and indoor helicopters.