Harold Maguire

[2] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1946 for the gallant example he had set to his fellow captives while he was a prisoner of war during the Japanese invasions of Sumatra and Java in 1942.

[2] He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and made station commander at RAF Odiham in 1950, became senior air staff officer at AHQ Malta in 1952 and director of tactical and air transport operations in 1956.

[2] Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1958, he went on to be senior air staff officer at Headquarters No.

[2] In 1959 Maguire, by now an air vice-marshal, was forced to land a Spitfire on a cricket pitch in Bromley only 10 minutes after flying over Whitehall in a display commemorating the Battle of Britain.

As his engine failed, he spotted the company sports ground of Oxo and managed to put the aircraft down on the square, breaking the stumps at one end while the teams were off having tea.