I first became interested in aircraft in the 1930's when I was still a schoolboy and living at Lochridge. I had never seen an aeroplane close up, although I had seen plenty of films and newspaper photographs of the real thing.

Many a time I had watched the commercial De Havilland Rapides fly parallel to the railway line. In bad weather, the pilots used to navigate by following the railway line up to Barrhead, then turned off to Renfrew. These low flights generally occurred when there was extremely low cloud and heavy rain. This was one of the nightmares in navigation during those early days of flying.

The episode I remember most took place one fine clear summer's day when I was playing with my dog in the field in front of the big house. Suddenly there was this terrific roar, and this huge silver bi-ptane appeared over the top of the house. I spotted it as a Hawker Hart, which was then one of the front line aircraft of the Royal Air Force. I was able to make out the plane's serial number of the side of the fuselage, the Royal Air Force roundels and also the brown helmeted and goggled head of the pilot, complete with white flying suit. He gave me a huge wave as he blasted across the field, no doubt enjoying the effect he would have on the young ladies of the big house who by this time had appeared on the scene. He made a few passes over the field, and I could smell the castor oil vapour from his Rolls Royce Kestral Engine, at that time one of the most powerful engines in the RAF. Finally he flew off, no doubt back to Renfrew and 602 Squadron, executing a perfect barrel roll, a sight soon to be familiar over the main fighter airfields of Britain.

Later during my service in the RAF, I came face to face with many types of plane. One which I enjoyed a lot was in fact German. This was a highwinged Fieseler Storch, used by the Luftwaffe as ageneral reconnaisance aircraft. We had a captured Fieselar Storch, in perfect flying condition, and this place could start up at the far end of the hangar, and be completely airborne by the time it reached the hangar apron. Its landing speed was in the region of 40m.p.h and its fuselage canopy could slide completely back, leaving a huge open space one was liable to fall out if not to careful. This type of plane was used to help Mussolini escape from captivity in Italy. It also delivered Luftwaffe Commander von Grein to Hitler's bunker in Berlin during the last days of the war, under a hail of Russian artillery, and flown by a female pilot Hanna Reitsch.

My favourite planes were the Hurricanes and the Spitfire, the main fighters during the war and later on. I can still hear the noise of their Rolls Royce Merlin engines. They had a characteristic noise, especially when approaching to land, when they had a typical snarl and crackle.

After service in the RAF, and at a much later date, I decided that I would

like to collect and build models of most of the well known aircraft of the Royal Air Force, the U.S. Army Airforce, and the Luftwaffe.

In the 1950's, the 'Monogram' company introduced some very realistic models complete in all details. The first model I made was the twin engined bomber, the Vickers Wellington. This took me some time, and I had to fall back on my memory quite a lot. Luckily it was finished in black, the night colour, (no camouflage paint required). Later on, I built a model of the B17 Flying Fortress. This was a heavy four engined bomber, which took part in the daylight raids over the main cities in Germany. Sadly, the losses on this aircraft were quite heavy, and many a young life was lost.

Another favourite model was the American F51 Mustang. This was a long range fighter aircraft much used by the RAF and again powered by the famous Rolls Royce Merlin.

I still have quite a collection of models they occupy shelves and mantlepieces, and collect dust, much to the displeasure of my wife. The real aircraft I have mentioned are still part of our history. Fortunately, some are still fit to fly the skies, and long may they do so.