Jane Kirby

For two years the BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby has been investigating the story of Sgt Paul Meyer, a homesick American mechanic who stole a plane from a US airbase in England in 1969, to fly home to his wife in Virginia. The story resonated with Dutch reader Theo Van Eijck, who says he too stole a plane while serving in the forces. But he survived to tell the tale.

Theo Van Eijck’s little house in Somerset is a treasure trove of curiosities. Toy witches swing on tiny broomsticks from the ceiling of his sitting room, a family of ceramic cats …