Ken Wakefield was born in Bristol in 1928 and is married with three grown up children. After serving with the Royal Air Force and RAF Volunteer Reserve, he became an airline pilot, retiring after 27 years service as a Senior Captain with British Airways. In 1974 Ken was elected a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (MRAeS). He have previously had eight books and numerous articles published, all of an historical aviation nature, and for 25 years he owned a 1944 ex US Army Piper L-4, so has considerable experience of the aircraft type that features so largely in this book.