Records of RAF Flight Instructor

The contributor shared that his maternal grandfather, Kenneth Gordon O'Sullivan, was born in Liverpool to a mixed German and English couple. Kenneth's father had served with British forces in Cologne after World War I; he met and married a German woman, and they moved back to West Derby, Liverpool. The contributor noted that Kenneth lived through the Liverpool Blitz as a teenager and served with the Royal Engineers during World War II, becoming a lance corporal.

The contributor explained that his paternal grandfather, Richard Charles Woodhead, served in the Royal Signals in the Battle of France at age 30. After returning from France, Richard joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot with the rank of flight lieutenant. The contributor highlighted that Richard already had a civilian pilot's license, as he had learned to fly in the 1930s. The contributor noted that Richard was a flying instructor with the Royal Air Force and kept meticulous records of the planes he flew, the types of engines in those planes, and where he served. Richard's flight records also detailed the different nationalities of people he flew with, as he taught those from across the British Commonwealth and Europe. The contributor stated that Richard kept records until his death in the mid-1990s, and the planes he flew included: Tigermoth, Oxford, Magister, Lysander, Muster II, Anson I, Wellington X, and Spitfire II.