"Kenneth Robert Booth was born on May 6, 1920, near the city of Derby, where he spent his youth. His father worked as a chauffeur for the then lord mayor of Derby, who allowed the family use of the car for holidays to Devon and Cornwall. Mr Booth attended Normanton Village Street Infant School before winning a scholarship at the age of 12 to attend Bemrose School, then a boys' grammar school. Upon leaving at aged 15, he began working at Morledge open market collecting rent in his satchel from stallholders. He moved on to work as a clerk, firstly for Derby County Council then Trent Barton bus company where he played football for the company’s team. As a young boy, he developed an interest in aircraft and visited the former Burnaston airfield for lessons. In 1938, he joined the Air Voluntary Rescue elementary flying school, before being called up for the Second World War in 1939 aged 18. That same year, he completed his intermediate training in Scotland before heading to Blackpool for advanced training. He passed out as a qualified pilot and went out as a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reservist with 203 Squadron to Egypt. He then flew with 680 Squadron across north Africa. He would fly low in order to take pictures of enemy locations, during which time he was shot down into the Mediterranean Sea in 1941. For his efforts, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1942. He spent four years as a reconnaissance pilot, flying Mosquitoes on photo-reconnaissance missions over many places in Europe including Italy, Malta and Greece, distributing vital information to the Allied Advance. “He had these adventures of being shoot down but in reality, I think he had nine lives because he came home again. He was only 21 at the time and had the skin-of-his-teeth experiences.” From 1945-47, he continued his service with the RAF and helped to close airfields around Britain." www.edp24.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-norwich-veteran-kenneth-booth-dies-aged-10-8289136
....so young---lots of wars.......just out of high school, or near that age.......a finding themselves in war!!!
