Acknowledgements

Hugely, unreservedly I thank Trevor, who quite suddenly popped up out of nowhere to become a close and trusted friend I seem to have known forever. Without him, this book would remain a pile of jumbled-up stories somewhere in my docs file! To begin with he persuaded my uncooperative computer to behave in a reasonable manner towards its distraught owner. Once a week Trevor visited us morning or afternoon and we’d chat about anything and everything. Then, more recently, the three of us would sit around the kitchen table making corrections to my previous week’s work but no alterations to sentiment or story was allowed.

This book isn’t the only project we’ve undertaken. The first project was to build a 1 to 7 scale model of a Tiger Moth biplane. Every detail was exact. After three months work, I held the completed craft tightly aloft for Trevor to start the engine. It powered into life the first time. Everything else worked perfectly with the remote control. The rudder, the wing flaps, the power of the engine, everything. We were ready for our maiden flight. But that’s as far as we dared go. All that work for a crash landing in minutes. No, no, no. It now hangs from a beam high up in our barn sitting room looking as though it were in midflight. Without Trevor, it wouldn’t be there. As with this book, without Trevor it would not be here.