Lieutenant-Commander John Moffat

Moffat was born, raised, and educated in Kelso, in the Scottish Borders. He left school without any plans to carry on to university, and then the war overtook his life. He enlisted in the Fleet Air Arm in 1938 and in 1940 was posted to HMS Ark Royal as a very junior pilot, who flew mainly Fairey Swordfishes. He survived not only the attack on the Bismarck, when he is thought to have been the pilot whose torpedo crippled its steering system, but also the rest of a busy war.