"Our father inspired four generations of service"

This Father's Day, we pay tribute to all RAF fathers, past and present, who have inspired a generation of sons and daughters with their selfless service. In Arthur Northfield's case, his Second World War career led to four generations of his family seeing active service in defence of their country.

Mick Northfield, Arthur's son puts it quite plainly: "It is a legacy of my father's service that we are all here today and that is often forgotten.

"I was in the Falklands war, my son served in the Gulf War, my grandson served in Afghanistan and my father served for three years during the Second World War. So many people did not come back – I’m so grateful he did."

Ninety-seven-year-old Arthur Northfield joined the RAF in 1942 halfway through the Second World War as a Stirling bomber Flight Engineer in Bomber Command, completing numerous missions over Germany before switching to Special Operations. He and his crew took part in D-Day, Operation Overlord, towing gliders full of paratroopers over France and bombing railway lines to impede the German invasion.

He survived four 'maydays' including one where he ditched into the English Channel when returning from a mission over Norway in late 1944. He was picked up and treated in Cherbourg hospital by American personnel.

On VJ Day Arthur was intending to travel to London to celebrate with his pals, stopping into a pub in Romford along the way. But he got no further as there he met his beloved Mary and the couple were married for 65 years. Shortly after VJ Day, Arthur went out to India before being demobbed at the rank of Warrant Officer in 1947.

Arthur was awarded the Legion D' Honneur, and he also received the Bomber Command Clasp.

Micky contacted the Fund for help with repairs to Arthur's boiler. Delays in repairs meant his father had been strip washing over a sink before the Fund stepped in to provide a grant to replace his boiler.