Perkins, Les W.

Les Perkins was born in London, England, on November 17, 1923. During the Great Depression, he and his brothers were installed in a boys' boarding school in Buckingham, where he obtained his basic schooling to School Certificate, later upgrading to Junior Matriculation. He then attended an agricultural training school in Kent, not far from Biggin Hill, and as a seventeen year old, mad about flying, thrilled to the Battle of Britain almost over his head.

His mother spent some time in the Women's Air Force during the First World War, and delighted her eldest son with a description of the dow...