John Hamlin is an established author on aviation subjects, military and civilian, with eighteen books and several magazine articles to his credit. He served in the Royal Air Force as an air traffic control assistant at RAF Moreton-in-Marsh during his National Service from 1953 to 1955 and continued this work in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force at RAF North Weald until 1957. The history of air traffic control remains one of his many interests.

A chance meeting with another enthusiast in 1984 led to the publication by John of his first book, a 72-page history of the RAF at Newmarket, in the following year. The scope and size of later books have increased, and in September 2003 John's latest book, The De Havilland Dragon/Rapide Family, was published. Forthcoming titles include Volume 2 of Peaceful Fields ­ details of prewar civil airfields. In addition, John edits the partwork entitled Airfield Focus, which is published five or six times per year.

Another interest is family history, a subject to which much time was devoted some years ago, producing a family tree going back as far as the mid-sixteenth century. Any visitor to this website who has an interest in the HAMLIN name (or its many variants) is asked to make contact so that information can be shared.

Most years, John organises a reunion for his former RAF mates from Moreton-in-Marsh days (1953-55), but there are several who have been impossible to trace so far. Names not accounted for are: Jim Corrigan (Watford), Frank 'Fluke' Flood (Oxford), Doug Holden, Clive Justin (Reading), Chris Smith, Neville 'Dag' Smith (Sandy), Dave Wood (Hull?) and Cyril Price (S. Wales). Contact with any of these or anyone who may know them would be very much appreciated. Do you know one of them? They'll all be in their mid-sixties. John would also be interested in making contact with any former airmen who took part in the RAF 35th Birthday Parade, held in Manchester on 1 April 1953, particularly those who did the first four weeks of their square-bashing at Melksham followed by four weeks of drill training at Wilmslow. Service numbers would be around 2582xxx.