A small sketchbook drawing by  SandySchreiber and posted by permission. From FC17.

Here we have Major Neville Pouter, Royal Air Force, in a photograph probably taken in the late 1920s. The helmet and goggles are standard issue for the RAF in the Great War. However, while this redoubtable pigeon aviator and Flying Ace would certainly have appreciated such a warm jacket when flying high above the trenches on a frigid winter day during wartime, the fleece-lined leather jacket in this photograph appears to be of a later pattern.

Had he not been reassigned to carrying important messages, Major Pouter would almost certainly have run up a higher wartime tally than his seven official victories. It is his postwar work, however, which brought him justly-deserved fame. His arctic exploration flights for the Geographic Society charted vast areas. Then, in the 1935 Seagul Trophy races, only he had the skill necessary to pilot the R.7 racing seaplane to a victory and a new world speed record- and live!