Hero fighter pilot dies aged 90

Born Harold John Westwood in October 1921, the Rotherham Grammar School boy went on to be known as Lt-Cdr “Cherry” Westwood, once flying seven 80-missions sorties in just two days while providing air cover to ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

Having played football for Rotherham United in his teens, he joined the Navy as a Naval Airman 2nd Class, and was trained as a pilot in Canada.

He served in the Fleet Air Arm during the war, and was on aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable when it was torpedoed.

According to an obituary in the Daily Telegraph, Lt-Cdr Westwood was known as  “Cherry” because of the ruddy hue he turned under the perspex canopy of his aircraft.

He flew with 880 Naval Air Squadron, which took part in almost every naval fighter operation of the Second World War.

In 1944, Lt-Cdr Westwood was appointed flying instructor at the Royal Naval Air Station in Yeovilton, and after the war he flew for a secret trials unit, before becoming the senior pilot of 728 Naval Air Squadron.

He worked for spent five years as an air traffic controller, after which he transferred to the RAF.

Lt-Cdr Westwood married Constance Eileen Smith in 1945 and the couple had two daughters.