A SQUADRON leader at RAF Leeming is celebrating 50 years in the air force by mentoring service personnel of the future.

Sqn Ldr Spike Wilson has been serving as a full-time reservist with the Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron (NUAS) for almost a decade, following a career as an airframes technician and engineering officer at bases all over the world.

Sqn Ldr Wilson, 67, began his career at RAF Dishforth after completing basic training.

He said: “There were many more aircraft crashes back then, and I was working with the salvage team so I was always on the road.”

He worked with the full RAF range of jets at the time, from Lightnings and Hunters to Javelins.

During his early career, he was based in Singapore during the Vietnam War and was part of a crew flying diplomats and VIPs into neighbouring countries such as Cambodia.

Now working with the next generation of the military, Sqn Ldr Wilson said young people have changed very little over the past 50 years.

“They are more confident and I’d even say more intelligent, but underneath that they can be quite naïve.

“We work with them to develop their teamwork and leadership skills and some of them really do develop fast.”