John Blake CV
John Blake, Guild of Aviation Artist, Raconteur, Historianand Airshow Commentator
John Blake began his adult life at about the same time asthe Second World War also started. He originally wished to enter theRoyal Air Force (his Father having been in the Royal Flying corps), but wasturned down as at that point there were no vacancies!! He thereforejoined the Irish Guards as a subaltern and hence commenced his own type of war,causing chaos, blowing up bridges and for a short time owning a ME109, which hesubsequently blew up, with spectacular results, in case the original owner re-appeared. He was heavily involved with the ‘Micks’ (Irish Guards) inOperation Market Garden after his landing in Normandy on the beaches. John had an individual style of service life. On entering Brussels thelocal community were found to be ‘acquiring’ back, from the recently departedGermans, supplies from the Palais de Justice. Order had to be maintainedand John, as part of the Regimental Pioneer Platoon(things that go bang) put up notice to say that the Palais was mined andall should keep clear. It was not until several months later, when he wasback in England recovering from being hit by an unfriendly German shell, justoutside Arnhem, and attending a refresher course about defusing bombs that heremembered that he had forgotten to take the sign down. His memory wasjogged by the instructor complaining about ‘so many false ‘beware of the mines’signs’. It was while completing his recovery that he, and his sergeant,where on a range checking the results of hand grenades on different types ofrock that his Sergeant dropped a live grenade. John, without muchthought, picked the grenade up to get rid of it and it exploded taking hisright hand with it, and causing multiple injuries to the rest of him.
After the war, and patched up as well as could be done, heattended the Glasgow School of Art where, having to change hands, he trained as an artist. A skill he was to use until very recently and which has madehim a Fellow of the Guild of Aviation artists and a former Chairman of the saidGuild. He found employment with the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdomas their librarian. This suited him down to the ground, as his other loveis Naval, Army and Air Force history. He had the run of the Library atthe Royale Aeronautical Society and was paid to do this. It was duringthis time he was asked to commentate at a little airshow. This was thestart of a long and distinguished career as the leading airshow commentatorthis country has ‘heard’. Airshows up and down the country, in thesixties, seventies, eighties and into the nineties had the good fortune to havesuch a historian and raconteur entreating their audience with such knowledgeand skill. There will never be a replacement as a commentator for John,and I write that as his successor as Chief Commentator at Farnborough. Mycommentating colleagues at airshows have a lot to thank John for as he set thebar and standard that we try to emanate.
John is a founder member of the Tiger Club, but due to his loss of a hand (which he never thought of as any type of disability) was notable to get his Private Pilots Licence until the CAA relaxed their rules andlooked at individual cases on their own merit. John became a stalwart ofthe British Aerobatic Association and an International Aerobatic Judge and wasthe Contest Director for the World Aerobatic Championships held in Hullavingtonin 1970.
The stories surrounding John from falling down a nunnery staircase with an armed Rocket Propelled Grenade (this one did not go off), tomeeting aviation greats like Uri Gagarin, to towing the Admiral commanding theRoyal Yacht Britannia across the forecourt at Buckingham Palace are all true.
Stratton Richey