… a big step forward

Air Vice Marshal Lord Beaverbrook

John William Maxwell Aitken was born in 1910 and educated at Westminster School and Cambridge. He was a reservist with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force between 1935 and 1940 with No. 601 Squadron, becoming its commanding officer. He then served throughout the Second World War as a fighter pilot, receiving the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). In 1964 he succeeded to his father’s peerage, but elected to retain only the Baronetcy. Sir Max held senior positions in Beaverbrook Newspapers from 1968 until his death in 1985.