Gray carried out his Basic Flying Training at the de Havilland Flying School at Hatfield before progressing on to No.11 Flying Training School at RAF Shawbury, Shropshire.

Whilst achieving the status of ‘ace’ as a fighter pilot is an impressive enough feat, a handful of individuals have even managed to earn the moniker in two separate conflicts. ‘Gabby’ Gabreski was one of these.

On February 11^th 1942, the unprecedented sight of a vast German armada of warships ploughed its way directly through the English Channel in a bold act of defiance. In broad daylight, the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and an escort of some fifty smaller warships sailed through rough seas to return to Germany.