Graham Pitchfork spent thirty-six years in the RAF as a navigator and commanded a Buccaneer squadron, was Director of Air Warfare and, before retiring in 1995 as an air commodore, was a Director of Military Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence. He is an established air historian and has written ten books including The Buccaneers, Shot Down and on the Run and The Royal Air Force Day by Day. He is a regular contributor to Flypast and is the aviation obituarist for the Daily Telegraph. In 2012 he received the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators Award for Aviation Journalism and the Air Power Association awarded him the prestigious C.P. Robertson Trophy for the best written interpretation of the Royal Air Force for the public.