He was finally posted to 208 Squadron in Egypt on the 24th January 1933. He seems to have remained for about 5 years before being posted to 62 Squadron at Cranfield for the last 8 months of his service. Overall his performance 
within the squadron during that time was very good, but I did notice that on two occasions he spent several weeks in military hospitals in Cairo, but I have no reason why. I assumed it was the bane of many lives in Africa, Malaria, but there is some anecdotal evidence within the family that he was involved in some sort of accident. I can’t find the appropriate records for those hospitals so we may never know.
You can see
from the photograph on the left that he seems to have kept his nose clean and was assessed as very good for the 9 years he was in the RAF; gaining two good conduct badges, one in 1933 and the other in 1938.
You will also see from the record that on leaving the RAF, Percy joined Scottish Airways at Prestwick Airport. How long he stayed there I have no idea but the next thing I knew was that he had joined BOAC as a radio Officer, on the regular run from Poole harbour to Cairo and India using the 
Mark III Sunderland flying boat. The last photo we have of Percy is to the right, which was probably taken shortly before he died.
It was probably during this time that he met his partner Yvonne Marie Janssen who was the daughter of a Belgian immigrant who arrived during or after WW1. Although she was his wife, there is no evidence that they ever got married. There was a war on! Yvonne had one son from a
previous relationship that Percy accepted as his own and they all lived together in Bournemouth.
His actual death on 5th November 1943 was well documented and I have attached two reports which will explain better than I can. The first, which can be read by clicking on the image on the left, is from the successor to BOAC, now BA. (I have already informed them that they have spelt Percy’s name wrongly and they have agreed to amend it the next time they do a reprint).
