At Radley he set up a model aeroplane club; all the members of this club went on to serve with the Royal Flying Corps in the Great War, including Thomas Langford-Sainsbury who went on to become an Air vice-marshal and commanded British Air Forces in Egypt during World War II.

He entered service in 1914, serving in France and Palestine during the Great War and rose to lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

Bowden served in India as a subaltern and recounted an eventful journey in his "glamorous" A V Monocar with his Colonel's charming daughter.

Bowden has done more than any other man in the world to popularize and develop interest in petrol-driven model aircraft.

In 1937 he achieved the first officially observed "rise off water" flight in Great Britain with a model petrol-powered flying boat.