"The flight to Singapore took 5 days in a Hastings doing about 1500 miles each day. Eventually we reached Hong Kong and 28 Squadron out in  the New Territories. Situated 5 miles from the Chinese border in a horse shoe of hills, with Tai Mo Shan, the same height as Snowdon at the end of the runway.".

Sheila joined John and was pregnant with David who was born in November 1952. " We managed to find a bungalow at Sha Tin, even closer to the border. We found out later that one of the previuos tennants had been killed by bandits! 

Promoted to Flight Lieutenant in 1953.

"In the summer of 1954 I had tonsillitis very severely and took a while to recover. After this I started to have a feeling of disorientation when flying and as I knew I was prone to fainting, it was very disturbing. I was quite happy doing aerobatics as there was something close, but alone at 30.000ft, the effect was too much to bear and eventually I had to ask to be taken off flying duties. After a rather boring time at HQ we eventually sailed home to England on the Empire Orwell with David who was 3 and Sheila pregnant with Peter."

" I resigned my commission. My experience with cream of fighter command at West Rayhnam, in a Meteor 8, which could out climb any of the contemporary fighters but was inferior in every other way! We had finished the war with some of the best aircraft in the world but sadly the Labour Government wrecked the development of the new fighters. So when, in my leaving interview, they tried to persuade me to have another go I told them - 'That the current aircraft made us about as useful as the Lancers and that teaching I would earn half the salary but feel that I was doing something worth while'."