Obituary - Tom Webster, RAF pilot and agricultural scientist

Died: June 2, 2018

TOM Webster, who has died aged 94, was an agricultural scientist and former RAF pilot. He spent the Second World War flying B24 Liberator bombers and after the war was proud of his work to help harmonise standards in crops and agriculture across the EU.

He described himself as a ‘street child’, growing up in Glasgow’s Southside. His natural intelligence and scientific curiosity were irrepressible so when, at the age of 15, he was employed by the Glasgow Corporation his boredom in the job led to much mischief making with his contemporaries.

He lived for the weekends and vividly recalled days cycling from Glasgow to Arrochar to climb The Cobbler, and cycling back in time for bed (an 80-mile round trip).

The Second World War was to change the course of his life. He initially signed up to the RAF as navigator, but, at his brothers’ suggestion, he tried out for the pilot exams. He excelled and spent the war flying B24 Liberator bombers with a mostly Canadian crew. For the latter part of the war, he flew low altitude reconnaissance in South Asia.

The war catapulted the working class boy into education. After demobilisation in 1947 he enrolled at Glasgow University to study agriculture. Completing his postgraduate course at Aberystwyth University he then went on to work at Sutton Bonington Agricultural College.

But the work he was most proud of, at the NIAB research facility in Cambridge, focused on collaboration with new EU colleagues to harmonise standards in crops and agriculture.

It was at a dance at the Millport Garrison, Cumbrae, that Tom, always a charmer, met a good looking young nurse interested in going climbing. He and Alice Spence were married in December 1951 and they had two children, Glynis and Tom. The family spent many years in Cambridge, with their house full of pets.

Always a keen sportsman, he was an enthusiastic member of many teams from basketball to cricket but his sport of choice was hockey, which he played regularly throughout his working life until retiring back to Scotland.

The move north enabled Tom and Alice to explore their shared passion for the outdoors, the Scottish scenery providing fertile inspiration for Alice’s paintings and sparking Tom’s interest in geology.

The man could never be kept from the mountains so retirement saw him joining the redoubtable Oban Mountaineering Club. He was part of the Mountain Rescue team (until his 80th year when the insurance would not cover him!) and became Munroist no: 3449.

Tom was devastated when Alice was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and chose to end her life in Switzerland. Yet even after an injury necessitated the amputation of a leg at age 87 the man could be found up The Cobbler with his trusty dog and even, once, skiing the slopes of Aviemore.

A walk with Tom would always involve a wee song, a joke and a curious look at the flora and fauna. No one could ever meet him without feeling touched by his exceptional intellect, his range of knowledge, and most of all his joie de vivre.

He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Glynis Harflett, Eleanor Harflett and David McMillan’