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Join us for our Friday Morning Talk, when speaking with Gary Italiaander, 98 year old Monty will share his incredible experiences as a navigator within the Royal Air Force during multiple Bomber Command missions. 

Monty is one of life’s heroes.

He didn’t have any intention of that being the case. In fact, he had just started out into the world of accountancy at a time when war was looming. Up to then, Monty was, like many young men of the time, unworldly. Whatever made him decide to enrol in the RAF when his only mode of transport up to then was a bicycle? He didn’t even think he had a chance of getting accepted, but things in life just happen, exactly as they did to him.

Once Monty was accepted into the RAF, he felt that the best position for him personally would be as a navigator.

The reality was, once you started flying wartime missions, if you managed to survive around 6 to 8 missions you were doing very well. However, Monty survived 32 such missions flying in Halifax bombers and, in his words, “never even had so much as a scratch”.

Which is probably why, for many years after the war he was reticent to fly in case his luck ran out!

As he approaches the age of 99, we are delighted that he is willing to tell his remarkable story, and share his contribution in defeating Nazi Germany.

This talk will take place onsite in the Museum’s Learning Centre and is included in Museum admission or Annual Membership.

This event is now fully booked. If you would like to join the reserve list for tickets should they become available, please email [email protected] with your contact details and the number of tickets required. Alternatively please call us on 020 8950 5526.