[3] He became aviation correspondent for The Sunday Times, and at the start of the Second World War was sent to France to cover the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force.
A daylight raid on Le Bourget in 1943 led to the nose of his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress being blown off, with a consequential crash landing in East Anglia, luckily without injury.
[2] Following a 1943 article by Masefield criticising the Ministry of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook removed him from active service, appointing him as his personal advisor and Secretary of the Brabazon Committee, which planned for post-war British civil aviation.
Masefield also played a major part in the 1946 negotiations of the Bermuda Agreement – which governed air services and routes between the United States and the UK.
[7] Other successes included ordering the Vickers Viscount turboprop airliner – which became the leading short-haul aircraft in Europe by the mid-1950s[6] – and resisting the potential merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) with BEA.
[11][4] Following this, Masefield had a variety of roles, including deputy chairman at British Caledonian and president of the Royal Aeronautical Society.