would you research this ?

When I was at secondary school, the head of English was a bit of a legend to us boys. Very non “PC” even for the early 80’s.;)

Fifth formers allowed a smoke from the back of the classroom once exams were done, he bought a small group of us a beer in a pub at age 16 when we were in his “Local”, various rumours of relationships with some of the girls, smoking himself in class. The picture that I am trying to paint is of a bit of a hero to some of us. He saw himself as a “Falstaff” type figure, and when we studied Henry IV and V, he loved reading Falstaffs lines.

He used to tell us stories of his time in the RAF, in the Far East flying Hurricanes, and later Thunderbolts. Captured by the Japanese and later escaped returning to duty and claiming 5 kills. He left the RAF after the war but rejoined, flying Meteors and Hunters, leaving just before the Lightning entered service.

For part of my course work for a sociology exam I interviewed him, which is where some of the details above come from. I found the course work in the loft a while ago, and I was tempted to try to research his wartime service.

I got as far as the Osprey book on Hurricane Aces (he does not feature) and stopped there.

My question is, would anybody look into this, or just leave the memories intact?

He died in 1985, I attended his funeral (RAF Odiham sent an officer which was a nice touch, so I guess that shows he did serve in the RAF !) I mean no disrespect at all to his memory, but as I get older, I am curious to know his story.