Escaping death after a plane crash in mid-Atlantic, evading Hitler’s Luftwaffe and flying wartime statesmen around the world are just some of the Biggles-type exploits Brentor author Mark Alderson has related in a book about his flying ace dad.

But the one prosaic fact that stands out in Mark’s book Flying Boat Pilot in War and Peace is that BOAC civilian captain Roly Alderson delivered Winston Churchill’s famous Cuban cigars. The precious cargo was a gift from WWII ally US President Roosevelt which had to be flown across the Atlantic to the West Country and sent by night mail train to the great man, despite the danger of being shot down.

Mark, who helps run Brentor and Moor Compassionate Neighbours charity, recently gave a talk on his dad’s heroics, speaking to a packed Brentor Church Hall last week to raise funds for the hall’s new friends group.

He said: “I was delighted so many people were interested in dad’s life. He was an amazing person but spoke so little of his flying career which spanned the earliest most basic planes to the first flying boats and the first long-haul flying boat services to South Africa and US. He flew the first commercial jet airliners and in the end was working on the design of Concorde’s cockpit and in senior positions with BOAC, but wasn’t keen on desk jobs. He was an action man but a skilled, thoughtful person was also very modest. So I had to rely on one taped interview and his extensive records.

“He flew the great wartime leaders such as Churchill and De Gaulle around the world and was trusted to do so. He flew Churchill’s war cabinet across the Atlantic to meet Roosevelt in Bermuda for a conference – if he’d crashed then the country would have been in deep trouble. He and his crew also survived a suspected poisoning plot against De Gaulle when they were taking him on a wartime tour of French colonies. It seemed to be from something they dined on.”

Roly hit worldwide headlines when his flying boat crashed in the mid-Atlantic in 1939 on the Imperial Airways New York-Bermuda service – an international search led to him being rescued, but three people died. He was initially blamed for the crash, but became a hero for helping save lives after it was revealed he had warned iced up aero-engines could cause crashes.

He was recognised by the King, George VI, for his wartime flying with a commendation, while Churchill and De Gaulle both formally thanked him. Churchill signed Roly’s own cartoon tribute to the flying boats crews which mocked Hitler for never shooting them down.

Mark’s life is also interesting and has echoes of his father’s – he built a small seaplane with friends and flew it in the West Country until the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and bureaucracy came calling. He and his wife Debbie are keen horse riders and Mark was a horseback film extra in ‘First Knight’ with Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Julia Ormond. He is also a trained palliative care professional, lifeboatman and long-distance sailor.