Coming in to land is the story of an Oxfordshire boy who grew up on his parents’ farm in the 1920s before going on to fight for his country in the RAF during the Second World War. Now in his 96th year, Bill Malins DFC still retains vivid memories of nearly a century of adventures on the land and in the skies. Bill Malins was born in 1915, the first son of an Oxfordshire farming family. As a small boy he would help with the haymaking, steer a horse-drawn harrow, milk a cow and ride sheep for entertainment. He would cycle each day to the local RAF base to deliver milk, often stopping to gaze at the aircraft overhead. He never dreamed that he would eventually be flying one of them himself, but by the time the Second World War began he was serving with the RAF as a reconnaissance pilot. He went on to see action in France, Germany and Holland, risking his life for his country and earning a Distinguished Flying Cross before giving up the airborne life to return to the farm.
