Bob Cossey's biography of John, A Tiger's Tale, tells of John's 1941 mock attacks over Leeds to impress Rita and his parents in a Spitfire.
That John decided to come from Manchester airfield to Hawarden (south-west of Manchester near Chester) via Leeds (considerably north-east of Manchester) says much about the cocky grammar-school boy's attitude:
Rita had been engaged to John's cousin, but that relationship came to an end once she had seen a photo of John in the Yorkshire Post which she cut out and kept. The love affair began when John took a Master and colleague down to Ringway (Manchester) where a pupil had landed a Spitfire with a problem and the aircraft needed collecting and flying back to Hawarden [airfield near Chester where John was training pilots].
John's return in the Spitfire was via Headingley where he put on something of an aerobatic display over his parents' home - he was remembering stories he had read of World War One German aces who would be prone to aerobatting to entertain those on the ground!
A low level pass over the rooftops of Headingley as a farewell gesture had people diving for cover - was this the Luftwaffe on a bombing run?
John regularly announced by beating up Rita's house then landing at Yeadon when he came home for a weekend's leave. She always knew when he was about! But his unauthorised antics were inevitably brought to the attention of AOC Training Command - John was on the carpet once again!
