Sidney Cotton was a pilot, a businessman who was decidedly shady – and a spy. He was born in western Queensland in 1896, and even as a boy designed cars and planes. He served in the RAF in the latter part of World War I. He later went into business in the UK (aviation and photography) – and always operated very close to the edge. Various businesses went broke under him – but he always walked away. There were also suggestions that he was involved in society blackmail in London the 1930s. matters, and was recruited by MI6. He had extensive business contacts in Germany, and frequently used these trips for aerial photography. He later fell out with the RAF and the security establishment – but he will always be remembered as the man who flew the last civilian plane out of Berlin before the declaration of war. guns to Hyderabad (in India). His business life remained varied. He died a poor man – but still surrounded by mystery. 171214/220222

x, 262 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 23 cm.
Cotton, Sidney, 1894-1969. | Air pilots — Biography. | Air pilots — Australia — Biography. | Air pilots, Military — Biography. | World War, 1939-1945 — Reconnaissance operations, British.