A New Zealand squadron leader, flying-boat captain and airliner pilot on a life of aerial adventure<br/><br/>Planes were rarely seen above the small Central Otago sheep-farming town of Ranfurly in the 1940s. Yet as a young boy, Tom Enright had a fascination with the skies that quickly developed into a longing to become a pilot. He joined the RNZAF as an engineer in 1951, and was sent to England at just 16 to attend the revered Royal Air Force college in Cranwell.<br/>Returning to New Zealand to join the Vampire fighter squadron in Ohakea, Tom became a famed member of the RNZAF aerobatic team. Later he became a flying commander at Wigram air base, before captaining a Sunderland flying boat to isolated communities in the vast South Pacific, often to the upper limits of the plane's endurance.<br/><br/>From the near-catastrophic opening of Wellington airport to flying Boeing 747s into the world's biggest airports, this is Tom Enright's story of the mishaps, misadventures and high-altitude drama of a 45-year flying career.