John the 'Flying Flynn' learned to fly on Cessnas in Canada in 1987. He first flew a Tiger Moth in Australia in 1990, and was immediately bitten by the vintage aircraft bug. A few years later he became one of the founder members of the Beekeepers syndicate when the group bought the Queen Bee in 1995. 

Although he claims flying the aircraft is windy, noisy, cold and uncomfortable, he says there is nothing to match it, and likens it to riding a motorcycle in 3 dimensions. When on the ground, he actually does ride in just 2 dimensions, his favourite machine being a 1980 Honda CBX 1000cc six-cylinder monster!

To pay for his enormous carbon footprint, he jokes that he is a freelance rocket scientist, designing and testing spacecraft systems for companies such as Astrium in Portsmouth.