During World War II Ron Brown flew as an RAF Bomber Command Flight Engineer; taking part in 64 bombing operations in total. Now in his 80's, Ron has written his biography, entitled “Per Ardua ad Astra” – this is the RAF motto and means 'Through Adversity to the Stars'.Ron was born in Cresswell, Derbyshire and started his career as an apprentice typewriter mechanic – the technical skills he learnt later lead to him being requested to work on 'a broken typewriter' which turned out to be a far more exciting piece of equipment – it was none other than the world–famous Enigma coding machine
Ron flew with the 218 Gold Coast special duties Squadron, part of 3 Group based near Grantham in Lincolnshire, and with the 75 New Zealand Squadron. He was also involved in a mission which, it has since been speculated, was responsible for the disappearance of the plane of the famous American RAF bandleader Glenn Miller.
His book is at times exciting, at times sad, but is a consistently engaging account of one young man's remarkable experiences in extraordinary times. On this website you will find snippets of information detailing some of the events covered in the book – as well as a poem Ron wrote as an epitaph for his close friend, John, who was tragically killed.
The national press have shown great interest in Ron's story – if you would like to read the entire story for yourself please contact Ron to purchase a copy of 'Per Ardua ad Astra'. Copies are printed in full colour, and cost £10 each, plus p&p.
You can email Ron Brown at: