Started out by cycling to the airport to see the daily BEA Viking arriving in Gibraltar. Also watched the RAF Shakletons (Mk1) come and go with the occasional Lincoln. The day a flight of Canberras went through was something.
At school aside from memorizing the Observers Book of Aircraft I knew Pierre Clostermann's books cover to cover. Likewise Neville Duke and Mike Lithgow's. Paul Brickhill's books on Douglas Bader and the Dambusters, ditto.
My uncle flew around with Bader ocasionally when he (Bader) was in charge of Shell oil's aviation section.
I also read avidly, Adolph Galland's book "The First and the Last" and a book by Heinz Knoke called "I flew for the Fuhrer"
Finally I managed to get hold of an RAF Flying Training Manual that had been pen and ink amended up to 1940. I still have it. Quite a contrast to the latest aircraft I flew.