The memories of childhood range from moments of terror to helpless laughter. John Cupis is of small stature but breaks free of "the apron strings" at an early age, especially when the family moves west from Staines to Reading in the autumn of 1944. Here, the harsh environment of a Grammar School education further convinces John Cupis that you must work things out for yourself. This momentous decision is leavened only by the hilarious activities of boyhood. On leaving school Mr. Cupis becomes an engineer apprentice in a North London aircraft factory, a sharp contrast to his erstwhile comfortable middle class background. Here there are moments of deprivation, tragedy and further hilarity. In response to his Mentor, Sir Frederick Handley Page, Cupis learns to fly, giving rise to tense moments and humorous incidents both horrific and exhilarating. When the manipulations of Duncan Sandys MP destroy his Mentor and the company of Handley Page Ltd. has to close down, Cupis is forced to seek his fortune elsewhere in industry. Thus he meets his wife, Jackie. She is a teenage girl who has been adopted from birth by a fishmonger and his wife. Jackie is told by her adopted mother that they wanted a boy but have to "make do" with a girl. An arranged marriage with a Chinese restauranteur is thwarted by John Cupis. Jackie then shows her great courage in a fraught moment in the aircraft that Cupis is flying and he asks Jackie to marry him. Their subsequent life is not easy but they win through to a finality.