[2] He was educated at the then all-boys private Bradford Grammar School and at the University of St Andrews, from where he graduated with a Master of Arts (MA).
[2] Mason was commissioned into the Education Branch of the Royal Air Force as a flying officer on 29 June 1956 with the service number 504826.
[3] Promoted to flight lieutenant on 29 December 1958,[4] he was appointed to a permanent commission on 1 July 1959.
[2][16] Mason was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (Hon FRAeS) in 2006.
[17] In 1956 he married Margaret Sneddon Stewart; they had two daughters Lindsay and Pamela (died 1985).