Ernest John Golley (1923–2000) was a fighter pilot who flew Hurricanes, Spitfires and Typhoons during the Second World War.

The eldest of six children, John was just ten when his father was killed on a building site. He and his youngest sister were taken in by and uncle and aunt and he attended City of Bath School until he was sixteen. Singing in the Bath School choir one day, his hoard of marbles fell out of his pocket and tumbled noisily all over the floor of Bath Abbey.

At seventeen John joined the RAF and was sent to Canada under the Commonwealth Air Training programme to train as a fighter pilot. On his return to the UK in 1942, John was eventually posted to 245 Squadron, flying Typhoons. The plane was fortunately emerging from a period of dangerous teething troubles in which the tail broke off on take-off due to the incredible torque of the engine.

Having honed his skills on operations in preparation for the D-Day landings in 1944, John saw action over the beaches of Normandy and went on to take part in numerous sorties in support of Allied troops, flying Typhoons equipped with rockets to destroy German tanks during the Normandy Campaign.

One day, John was coming out of a demob station when he saw a young lady walk blindly into a lamp post as she swooned at the sight of his RAF uniform. The couple were married for fifty-two years before John’s death at the age of 77.

After the war, John founded a successful advertising agency, before retiring in the late 1970s through ill health. He suffered from a stretched bowel caused by the G-forces flying the Typhoon. He subsequently pursued a successful career as an author and wrote several best-selling military books, including The Day of the Typhoon.