I am very grateful for the amount of time Phil gave me to record our conversation. In particular, I am glad he let me come back to get a more accurate portrait of him. It was wonderful to look through his archive of photographs and to see how much they mean to him. The albums he shared provided a great deal of colour and atmosphere to our conversation, so I have included a selection here as well.
Peter had always loved the Gypsy Tiger Moth plane and describes the charismatic nature of the piston engine over the characterless jet engine. The conversation takes us through his time with the RAF during National Service, where he worked as a dental assistant. As the second most feared man on the base after the dentist (he said jokingly) he was able to take to the sky as a passenger in some of the jets on the base before learning to fly himself as a civilian.
The conversation with Brian takes us through growing up on a farm before mains electricity. He recalls how cold the house used to be, necessitating movements around the card table so that everyone got a chance to be near the fire.