I was born and lived just off of the approach to 06 at Southend, so my childhood was punctuated with the sights and sounds of Dakotas and Bristol Freighters on finals. Later on they changed to Carvairs, Viscounts and BAC1-11s. My father had many books about the exploits of the RAF, all written during WW2, which I read avidly. He told me of his experiences at North Weald during the Battle of Britain and my mother told me of the Eagle Squadrons stationed at Southend. So I was surrouned by aircraft from a very early age. Later on, I built airfix models of aircraft and started work at Marconi, designing avionics for miltary aircraft.
Many years later in a different job, I was working next to a guy who was doing his PPL, and after my wife bought me a trial lesson, he took us both flying. We went back into the club and I booked my first lesson there and then.
In all the years I spent watching aircraft land at Southend, I never dreamed that one day,I would doing it.
Pprune came along a lot later but I've learnt so much from it, its also given me a chance to put something back.