A self-confessed aviation obsessive, Hugh Cowin failed to be deterred from his aeronautical interests despite living through the 15-month Luftwaffe blitz on Liverpool during 1940 and '41. Cowin's first historical feature on an obscure US Navy racing aircraft of the mid-1920s was published while he was still in the RAF (1951 to 1963). In the more technical sphere, Cowin launched and exclusively produced Flight International's monthly Systems feature during the first half of the 1970s, along with many of their weekly Avionics pieces. While his day-job involved in aerospace/defence programme analysis and forecasting, Cowin still managed to produce a number of books, including the pocket-sized Observers Warship, produced essentially as a readily portable aid for his own use. Cowin remained an active pilot until late 1979, after which his non-passenger flying has been confined largely to photographic sorties. Regarded for their insight and veracity, Cowin's books and features have always shunned the use of 'jargonese', preferring plain English and simple explanations where required. Thanks to his late-1942 decision to star gathering photographs of aircraft and the people behind them, he also now has an enviable image archive from which to illustrate his works. Of late, Cowin has embarked on an illustrated Directory of Jet & Rocket Aircraft. Covering well over 600 manned machines and streching back to June 1928, this a task guaranteed to keep him occupied for a while yet.