Page 34 - David Masters

The Eulogy Given by Sally at her father’s funeral

Once upon a time, just before the First World War, two young women became
friends whilst working for the Ministry of Defence in Nissan huts in Hyde Park,
London. One of the friends, Olive Sangster, introduced the other friend,
Maggie Jones, to a handsome young man by the name of Sidney Butteris
who also working for the Ministry of Defence. In the meantime Olive met and
fell in love with a young accountant by the name of James Masters, they
married and in 1918 had their only child – a son – named David James.
Maggie Jones and Sydney Butters had also fallen in love and married and in
1920 had their only child – a daughter – who they named Barbara Helen
(Bunny) – and the rest is history.

My father David, or Daddy as he was known to me and always will be, was
educated at Kings School, Wimbledon. He was a bookish child, not prone to
enjoying much sport, but excelling in subjects that he loved in particular the
English language, literature, grammar and also German in which he became
fluent and continued to be so for the whole of his life. After leaving school,
following a short spell as a clerk in a bank, which he hated, he joined the
Royal Airforce Volunteer Reserve in 1938, training as a flying instructor at the
Central Flying School. On 11 November 1940, he married his beloved
Barbara (Bunny), unfortunately having to leave at midnight after the wedding
– probably the shortest honeymoon in history – to travel to Rhodesia to
become an instructor with the Empire Aircrew Training Scheme. Barbara
sailed out to be with her new husband, her ship only to be torpedoed and
sunk in the North Atlantic, luckily surviving to be rescued from a packed
lifeboat wearing her only surviving possession -her fur coat. She eventually
managed to join her new husband in Bulawayo. On arrival there they learnt
that there had previously been a Mickey Masters in the mess, so from then on
my father was referred to as Mickey. Bunny, meanwhile was nicknamed after
her collection of china bunnies which were by then languishing on the sea bed
in the North Atlantic.

Upon returning to England in 1943 Daddy served with Bomber Command
stationed at Fiskerton becoming a Squadron leader with 576 Squadron as a
pilot on Lancasters, and after completing his tour of 30 operational sorties
(with apparently 50/50 chance of survival), he was awarded the DFC before
being demobbed in 1946. He joined Fairey Aviation that same year, and the
company sponsored him for a number 5 course at the Empire Test Pilots
School. I was born that summer and the family moved up to Bedford until
Daddy completed his course, then relocating up to Cheshire where he
became Senior Test Pilot for Fairey Aviation at Ringway – I can remember
being taught to drive round the perimeter track of the airfield at the age of 8!
Daddy’s office by one of the Hangars is still there to this day, although
Ringway is now the vast international Manchester Airport. He test flew the
Fairey Firefly, Fairey Gannet and the then cloak and dagger ML Utility MK1
aircraft, known as the flying mattress, but nicknamed by Daddy in inner circles
as the durex delta. I loved watching him perform the individual aerobatic
displays in the Gannet at Farnborough Air show on several occasions, and