An Old Bulldog

Today I went to the funeral of an elderly member of our church congregation. It was not particularly sad but more a reflection on a long life well spent. As is often the case, you learn much about modest and unassuming people that you did not know when they were alive. Bill was 90 and had been predeceased by his wife about ten years ago. He had a habit in meetings of appearing to be asleep but if his fingers were slowly twiddling a pencil you could expect a sudden intervention that would take you by surprise with its perspicacity. For the last 3 years of so he had lived in a residential home as he became less able to cope.

What I learned was that he had been a wartime navigator, a post war pilot, and an aeronautical engineer involved in test flying and in the development of the first anti-fog landing equipment. This blip from the National Museum of Scotland seemed appropriate. It is the Bulldog military training aircraft made by Scottish Aviation Limited, which was founded in 1935 by the 14th Duke of Hamilton and Flt Lt David McIntyre, who were the first people ever to fly over Mount Everest. It is Called the Bulldog, which seemed an appropriate tribute to Bill.