Known as "the night hawk partners", Skelton (as navigator) and Burbridge (as pilot) were officially credited with destroying 21 enemy aircraft,[4] one more than Group Captain "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham.

Skelton and Burbridge first flew together in the "Baby Blitz", a German night-bomber offensive against England in the early months of 1944, mounted in retaliation for RAF attacks on Berlin.

That May, the pair were posted as members of No 85 Squadron to 100 Group whose aircraft, equipped to carry out electronic counter-measures, escorted four-engined bombers over Germany.

Skelton read history and theology at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and came under the influence of Launcelot Fleming, the Dean, a distinguished Royal Navy chaplain during the war and later Bishop of Norwich.

From 1959 to 1969, Skelton was rector of the large parish of Bermondsey where, aided by four curates, he carried out a vigorous pastoral ministry, with much civic involvement throughout the area.

Over the next 16 years, he administered with considerable flair an old housing estate, almshouses and several other charities, laying the foundations of their present financial strength.