Former RAF pilot dies ‘having lavished 103 years of love into the world’ A former RAF pilot who launched a charity which flies humanitarian aid to isolated communities has died, with his wife paying tribute to him having “lavished 103 years of love” into the world.
Jack Hemmings, who protected the Bay of Bengal from Japanese invasion during the Second World War, died on January 24 in hospital in Sussex, his charity Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) announced.
Mr Hemmings co-founded humanitarian aid service MAF in the aftermath of the Second World War alongside D-Day veteran Stuart King – a former RAF engineer who died in 2020.
Paying tribute, his wife Kate, 77, said: “‘Lovely Jack’, the phrase that tripped off the tongue of so many people who met him for the first time.
Last February, he took to the sky in a Spitfire, flying the aircraft for the first time, from Biggin Hill airfield to raise money for MAF, describing being back behind the controls as “absolutely delightful”.
