John Spratt, pictured here in early 1945 on his wedding day with his new bride, WAAF officer June Williams, was a navigator in RAF 179 Squadron from 1940 to 1946. He flew Wellington Bombers on U-boat patrols out of Gibraltar, protecting the Western entrance to the Mediterranean, and merchant fleets travelling through the Bay of Biscay. While in Coastal Command he flew in the D-Day Brest Blockade, pinning 50 U-boats in the port of Brest and protecting the allied fleet and landing forces from submarine attack.

On leaving the RAF he made a home in New Zealand with his beloved June and his seven children. His love of aviation made a career in Air Traffic Control an obvious choice. In 1976 he was chosen for a United Nations Colombo Plan assignment to Singapore to assist this rapidly developing nation as they struggled to manage an increasingly busy air space with pre-war ATC procedures and training. In two years he re-wrote procedures for Payar Lebar Airport, wrote procedures for the soon-to-be-opened Changi Airport, and created and executed training plans for the Singapore School of Air Traffic Services. He was honored by Singapore Civil Aviation Authority for his services to Singaporean aviation.