Last time we met you told me off, Ma'am
A war veteran from Shropshire finally got to meet the Queen again – more than 70 years after she gave him a telling-off for sneaking out for a cigarette at Buckingham Palace.
Second World War pilot Allan Scott met the Queen at the Edinburgh HQ of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force's 603 Squadron.
The retired Squadron leader from Wem first encountered Her Majesty when she was the 16-year-old Princess Elizabeth and he attended Buckingham Palace to be decorated by King George VI in 1943.
The 94-year-old said he met the Queen previously as a chance encounter when he sneaked off for a cigarette.
He said he had gone for a smoke and was spotted by the princess who politely admonished him for not being where he should be.
The ex-Spitfire pilot, a holder of a Distinguished Flying Medal, mentioned the chance meeting to the Queen when he was introduced to her.
He said: "I was very pleased indeed to meet the Queen again at the weekend.
"I also met the Duke of Edinburgh and had a nice chat with him as well – he spoke to me about the Battle of Malta which I took part in. We had a quite a chat.
"I said to the Queen 'last time I spoke to you, Your Majesty, was in 1943 when I was getting a medal'. We then had quite a long chat – it was lovely to meet her again.
"I had been looking forward to the visit and I enjoyed it very much. After all, I haven't seen the Queen for around 70 years – so it was quite a thrill to see her again.
"It was a wonderful day and I am so pleased to have met both the Queen and Prince Philip. The Duke of Edinburgh and I have something in common you see – we are the same age."
Mr Scott said the Battle for Malta in 1942 was a "hectic time", with fighting concentrated on an island roughly the size of the Isle of Wight.
However, it was during peacetime that the veteran had his closest shave.
In 1953 the one-time test pilot was flying a Tiger Moth biplane in an aerobatics display in Edinburgh when a technical fault saw it plunge 500ft to the ground.
Mr Scott was ejected and landed head first, leaving him seriously injured and requiring extensive plastic surgery to rebuild his face. He wrote about the crash and his long flying career in a memoir, Born To Survive, published in 2013.
During his time in the armed forces Mr Scott won the Distinguished Flying Medal and reached the rank of Squadron Leader, flying over 80 different types of aircraft in his career. As for flying, he still keeps his hand in at Sleap airfield, near Wem.
He was posted to the Battle of Britain airfield of Biggin Hill in 1941 with 124 Squadron, before being sent to Malta, which was under siege with continual raids by the Luftwaffe and the RAF battling against heavy odds.
He served there with 603 Squadron, and then when that disbanded with 1435 Squadron at Luqa airfield, before returning to Britain and flying a third tour of operations, switching from his beloved Spitfire to a long-range Mustang fighter.
After the finish of this tour he became a test pilot, which brought him to 27 Maintenance Unit, RAF Shawbury, where he met wife Pat.
