John HANSBURY [1916-1994]
Born into a working-class family in Warrington, Northern England, John Hansbury grew up in grinding poverty among the steel mills of Lancashire (now Cheshire). He had a gift for mathematics, and was able to take advantage of scholarships to get the education necessary to become a draftsman. As a youth he discovered the joys of the outdoors, and became a skilled mountaineer as a young man. As he worked in a protected occupation he could not be conscripted when WW2 started, so in late 1941 he volunteered with the RAF and became a navigator in Beaufighters over India, Burma, and Nepal.