My Dad wearing his Irvin jacket – issued to all pilots.  He pointed out that while invaluable to men flying in bombers over the North Sea, he, as a fighter pilot hardly ever wore it in action. It was perfect, he said, for flying at 35,000 feet when it was so cold it froze everything, but it was too bulky to fit easily in the small cockpit of the Spitfire and back at lower levels it was after all August and September with temperatures to match!

Believe it or not there are matching trousers which can pretty much stand up by themselves! The garments look in pretty good nick for 75 years old – but then so does he at 96!

I found these dog tags wrapped in a scrap of tissue paper in the bottom of my mothers jewel box.

Nigel and Pam are married in April 1941. (My parents met in Chichester at the start of the Battle of Britain.