FURTHER to your ‘Courageous young man’ remembered story (Advertiser, July 13) about Sgt Wilson’s air crash the article quotes, “Early in 1911, the Royal Engineers began to form their air battalion.”

In 1961 I went in a shuttle service double-decker bus to RAF Upavon for a celebration of 50 years of military aviation with my brother-in-law, Arthur Green, a local chap from Andover.

He had worked in the Weybridge hanger at Boscombe Down and had done his national service in the RAF.

By going to tech college he was awarded an Ordinary National Certificate which led to a BSc in aeronautical engineering at Southampton University.

He then got a job at Hawkers near Kingston upon Thames where he was working on the Hawker P1127 vertical takeoff aircraft project, being a forerunner to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier Jump Jet.

When we got to Upavon there was a fenced-off area containing a P1127 with the associated test pilots and other staff.

As we approached, these people immediately recognised Arthur and he was able to talk to some of them through the wire.

To see the highlights of that brilliant display go YouTube and key-in RAF Upavon air display 1960s film 18978, for 9:01 minutes of flying nostalgia.

Little did I know then that one year later at 15½-years-old I would be re-joining the boys in blue as a Trenchard Brat apprentice to finish my career as Sergeant Aircraft Electrical Fitter.

Derek Weeks, Martin Way, Andover.