His father was John Walter de Silva (a head guard in the Ceylon Government Railway) and his mother Freda (née Ebert).

He had flying lessons after winning a scholarship awarded by Lord Leverhulme of Lever Brothers.

He volunteered to join the RAF with the onset of World War 2 and was trained at the Elementary Flying School at Fairoaks.

In 1944 he was posted to 17 Squadron and flew Spitfires (notably MT719/YB J) from Minneriya Ceylon, Calcutta and Chittagong, Assam and Burma.

[3] On demobilization he was recruited to Air India and flew DC-3 Dakota and Vickers Viking aircraft out of Bombay.