John spent part of his childhood in Canada but later he returned to Britain and joined the RAF as an apprentice aged fifteen. When war broke out he volunteered as aircrew and was posted to Canada for training. He enjoyed this, partly because there was no food rationing. After finishing he was sent to Egypt to ferry aircraft, such as the Martin Marauder and the Bristol Beaufighter, to India. These trips took three to four days.

After the start of the Airlift, in October 1948, he was sent to Germany as a relief crew and based in Lübeck. From here he flew Dakotas (C-47s) to Gatow in Berlin, often two or three round trips a day. The cargo was sometimes coal and one of the American air traffic people composed a ditty:

“C-47 with a blackened soul,

Bound for Lübeck with a load of coal.”

Coming into land one night at Lübeck the weather was bad, with rain and dense fog. Under these conditions the radar did not work well. When he descended through the cloud cover, he realised that they were too low and the underside of the Dakota hit some trees and, despite trying to fly up and away the plane crashed. He dislocated his shoulder, and someone pulled him out of the burning aircraft. A mother and child onboard died, as did his co-pilot. He recuperated but it was two years before he could fly again and after a while he could only fly as second pilot.