A ROYAL Air Force veteran who took part in nearly 30 sorties over Germany as a navigator on the Mosquito in the Second World War has died at the age of 90.

Phil Martin later became one of UK’s senior air traffic controllers as the aviation industry grew in the 1950s and 60s.

Philip James Martin was born in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire, on July 21, 1925.

After school, he joined Taylorcraft/ Auster Aircraft in 1940 as a trainee engineer and aircraft inspector.

As a teenager he joined the Air Training Corps and served as an air raid messenger and then as a warden.

In 1942 Philip was accepted for pilot training in the RAF but was given a 12-month deferment.

He was afraid the war would be over “without me” so took the alternative of faster service as a navigator on the ‘Wooden Wonder’ Mosquito.

He began training in 1942 and graduated on April 6 1944 as an air navigator from the Royal Canadian Air Force Air Observer School in Quebec, Canada.

He joined 464 Squadron at Thorney Island and started flying operations in July.

In the last year of the war he flew a total of 29 sorties, a relatively high number in that limited time.

In 1946 Philip met Jean Connor, a wartime evacuee from Singapore ahead of the Japanese invasion, when he was based at RAF Boscombe Down.

On the very eve of her return to the Far East, he asked her to stay and marry him and she accepted. “I was petrified. I had no money and no prospects but she still agreed,” he said.

They married that same year and were together until Jean died in 1995.

He finished his RAF career as a Flight Lieutenant, receiving a mention in despatches.

Philip spent his early married life as a student, returning to education at Loughborough College, making ends meet by doing various jobs including that of postman.

He flew with the college air squadron earning (as ex-RAF) the princely sum of 21 shillings each weekend. “It kept us going,” he said.

Philip worked for Hawker Aircraft from 1950-53 but then decided to become an air traffic controller at the very start of the rise of the commercial aviation industry.

It was, he always said, “the best decision I ever made”.

He worked at Croydon Aerodrome then moved to London (later renamed Heathrow) Airport and then the brand new London and Terminal Control Centre at nearby RAF West Drayton as head of one of the ‘watches’.

During this period he was elected at Master of the Guild of Air Traffic Controllers, a high accolade which saw him represent his profession at home and abroad.

In 1975 the family moved to Highcliffe when Phil transferred to Hurn from LATCC, taking up role as head of operations and deputy superintendent at the Civil Aviation Authority’s Air Traffic Control Evaluation Unit. He retired in 1985.

Philip leaves two sons, Paul and Andy, grandchildren Christopher, James, David, Tristan, Tim, Zoe and Millie and six great-grandchildren.

His funeral takes place at the Holy Redeemer Church, Highcliffe, at 10am on Thursday, March 12.