The first airman to be awarded a DSO in the field, Harbourne Mackay Stephen was a fighter pilot whose feats, even by Battle of Britain standards, were outstanding. As one of the ''Tigers'' (74 Squadron) he shared the honour of shooting down the 600th aircraft to be destroyed by fighters from a single RAF

station. His subsequent career as a newspaper executive was as innovative and daring.

Born in Elgin in 1916, the son of Thomas Stephen, banker and JP, he was educated at Shrewsbury School, which he left at 15 to become a copy boy for Allied Newspapers in London. After moving to the advertising department of the Evening Standard,

he also joined the RAFVR and was called up as soon as war broke out.

He was posted to 605 Squadron at Drem, East Lothian, after being commissioned in 1940 and only a month later experienced action for the first time, sharing the credit for shooting down a Heinkel bomber. A posting to 74 Squadron at Hornchurch followed and with it intense action over Dunkirk. His score of eight enemy aircraft, either singly or with fellow pilots, began with one of the many

Henschel Hs126s carrying out reconnaissance.

The Hornchurch squadron's fighters were in the frontline when the Battle of Britain began in earnest and, by August, Stephen had shot down a dozen German aircraft and contributed to several others. His most memorable day was August 11, 1940, when he shot down five enemy aircraft - three Messerschmitt Me109s and two Me110s. The squadron was scrambled three times and Stephen attacked a total of eight aircraft, damaging the three which were not downed. Later he made a radio broadcast about the extraordinary day.

By the end of the year his tally was more than 20 and, already awarded the DFC and Bar, by December he was awarded his instant DSO on the personal recommendation to the King of Sir William Sholto Douglas, air

officer commanding-in-chief of fighter command.

He returned to Scotland early in 1941 as chief flying instructor to No 59 Officers' Training Unit at Turnhouse and helped to form a new squadron, No 130. It was as commander of No 234 Squadron, however, that he shot down the ME109 which was his final victim in October 1941. He served the rest of the war in south-east Asia, commanding 166 Wing in India and as an air operations officer with 224 Group in Arakan, and received an Air Efficiency award in 1943.

He refused a permanent commission at the end of the war

and returned to newspapers, with a management traineeship at Express Newspapers. His first senior position was as manager of the Scottish Daily Express, the Scottish Sunday Express, and the Evening Citizen. His move to Glasgow allowed him to become commanding officer of the 602 (City of Glasgow) Auxiliary Air Force Squadron in 1950. Six years later, he was chosen by Lord Beaverbrook, whom he'd met when he was test flying, to oversee the rebuilding of his Scottish printing plant, and he then moved to London as general manager of the Sunday Express and Sunday Graphic.

Two years later he became general manager of the Sunday Times, where the colour supplement which became the Sunday Times magazine was his brainchild. His next move was as assistant managing director of the Daily Telegraph, where he launched the weekend colour magazine, overcoming trade union opposition by initially having it printed in Germany.

He was a member of the council of the RSPB and Scientific Exploration Society, and a trustee of Raleigh International.

He is survived by his wife, Erica, and their two daughters.