THE Battle of Britain, Nightfighter operations during the German blitz, intruder attacks on enemy bases in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, the Dieppe Raid, leader of the Death and Glory operations, D-Day, Noball sorties against V-weapon sites, the Battle of Falaise, the introduction into service of the first jet fighter planes.

It may sound like a description of the war, but this is the outstanding record of just one man's war.

Robin McNair joined the war in 1939 aged 21. He is described as being "a cool and highly skilled tactician" and was renowned for his courage and good looks.

He notched up nearly 500 sorties against the enemy and was shot down twice, on one occasion having to fix his parachute as he fell thousands of feet. He managed to deploy the parachute moments before he landed and suffered only a broken ankle.

On the other occasion, after his engines were shot out, McNair glided several miles and crash landed to avoid bailing out behind enemy lines and facing capture.

Squadron Leader McNair, as he became, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by King George VI and two years later had a coveted bar added to it.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.