A former flight engineer whose career took him from aircraft hangars at Gatwick to the skies around the world has had his remarkable story put into writing by the team at Edenmore Nursing Home.
Born in July 1940, Colin was placed for adoption by his mother and spent his early childhood in foster care before moving to More Place War Nursery during the war. It was not a particularly happy period of his childhood, and one he has spoken little about with his loved ones. When Colin was five, however, his life changed for the better when he was adopted.
His adoptive parents lived in Kent and were an older couple who had sadly been unable to have children of their own.
Young Colin was quite mischievous, his daughter Lisa shared, ‘He once accidentally burned down the scout clubhouse!’ It’s not entirely clear how this happened, but it wasn’t deliberate and is a story now told fondly, with plenty of laughter.
Colin went on to become a flight engineer, a career that required considerable mathematical and technical knowledge. As Lisa explained, ‘In those days, I think someone could show an aptitude for something and, with a little luck and determination, progress from there.’ His career reflected both his natural ability and his determination to succeed.
Colin began his aviation career in 1964 with Ace Freighters at Gatwick Airport, working as a ground engineer on Lockheed Constellation aircraft before obtaining his Flight Engineer’s licence.
His career later took his young family to Zambia, where he worked on Hercules C130s, before returning to the UK and joining Laker Airways as a Flight Engineer on the Boeing DC-10.
Flying long-haul routes around the world, Colin combined his engineering knowledge with life as part of the flight crew. If an aircraft needed repair work after landing somewhere such as America or Barbados, he had the expertise to carry it out himself.
His daughter, Lisa, also has vivid memories of growing up around her dad’s career. She and her brothers would visit aircraft hangars, go aboard the planes and watch the ground engineers at work. On some flights, Lisa even travelled in the cockpit jump seat alongside her dad.
After Laker Airways went into administration, Colin later returned to flying with Dan-Air on the Boeing 727 and subsequently worked on Boeing 747s before joining Monarch Airlines as a Flight Engineer on the DC-10.
Today, Colin lives at Edenmore Nursing Home in Ilfracombe, where conversations about aircraft and his flying days remain one of the best ways for those around him to connect with him. Laker Airways, in particular, still holds a special place in his memories.
His aviation career is just one chapter of a much wider life story, which his family and the team at Edenmore have recently brought together – from Colin’s early childhood and family life to his love of gardening, Jaguars and dogs, and his life today at Edenmore.
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