My chubby friend Susan (most of my friends were called Susan in those days!) used to let me tag along with her and her dad who worked in the hangars and serviced the aircraft. She lived across the road from the main runway (in Jubilee Cottages, on the Bath Road)

Imagine the tight security nowadays! No-one would EVER be allowed to take their children 'airside' to watch the men at work on the engines!

I've adored aircraft and flights my whole life.(Both parents were in the RAF even before the War, so maybe I've inherited it.)