Stuart died in August 2020, aged 98, and was a man Jack describes as “a pilot, a conscientious engineer, a pioneer and a man of resolute faith.”
Jack continued: “The flight today made me think of Stuart on what would have been his 100th birthday, and it was a suitable time to rememeber what he achieved in his lifetime. One cannot count the number of people whose lives have been enriched by his services.

“I don’t recall ever looking forward during that first Gemini flight in 1948 – but perhaps we could have imagined half a dozen aircraft in Africa. Today, MAF has 123 aircraft around the world. Every flight does some good – I think MAF is like the international Good Samaritain of the air. If anyone needs transporting out of difficulty, or needs urgent medical help, MAF is there.”

Jack – who flew Lockheed Hudson and C-47 Dacota aircraft during WWII – turned 100 on 10 August 2021, and demonstrated his unwavering passion for aviation by performing aerobatics in a Slingsby Firefly at White Waltham airfield. He is thought to be one of the oldest British airmen to perform stunts of this kind.

Jack’s first Gemini flight was in 1947 when MAF lauched its air service to the British public at Broxboume airport on 6 Septemeber. The Gemini was named Mildmay Pathfinder and commissioned by the RAF’s principle chaplain Group Captain The Reverend W.R Marsh. From there Jack and Stuart commenced a 30-stage tour of the UK to rally support, before taking off from Croydon on a 3,000 mile flight to Nairobi on 13 January 1948.
The 1948 Gemini survey was the first British mission to assess the humanitarain needs of isolated communities dotted across Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda and the Belgian Congo. The six-month trip saw the two young airmen encouter inpenetrable terrain and unimaginable needs, which they documented in 900 pages of first-hand analysis.