come back, shoot some circuits and land.
So you're flying for like an hour or something.
Getting to the end of the runway and thinking,
I'm from Woolwich, how can they let me
fly this machine, this is amazing.
Do they know who I am?
This is just incredible.
And then you put a reheat in and off you go,
and race around Scotland, by yourself.
In a multi-million pound airplane.
Amazing.
Trevor Edwards
© RAF Museum
Do they know who I am? I'm just a kid from Woolwich
Born in East London to West Indian parents who had migrated to Britain in the early 1960s, Flight Lieutenant Trevor Edwards thought becoming a pilot was out of reach for a person with his background. On a training exercise whilst serving in the RAF Regiment, Trevor contracted trench foot, resulting in the amputation of his toes. Whilst learning to walk again he was inspired to pursue a new role as a pilot, after initially failing tests at the start of his career, and later became a Jaguar pilot. He left the RAF in 1997 to join British Airways.
| Role pilot | Age 35 |
I'm going to call you Hopscotch.
Flt Lt Joan Ochuodho
My experiences in Iraq had become a constant, invasive thought
Paul Twitchell
Prejudice comes from not knowing people.
Dheeraj Bhasin
In the 1960s, racism was seen as par for the course.
Mark Johnson
I'd just bombed them. Didn't think they'd be too pleased to see me.
Robert Iveson
The most daring prank of World War II.
Phillip Dawson
He steals things, he hides things. That's the guy for me.
Charlie Hammerton
Could you drop a nuclear bomb?
John Peters
We had no machinery. But the kids with a cd player gave me an idea.
Flt. Lt. Gareth Davies
It's so difficult for a mum to hand your son over to the RAF
Emma Knutzen
