The title, 'On Phoenix Wings' derives from the blazer badge of Bede Grammar School in Sunderland, where the author was educated. He spent most of his working life as a pilot, firstly in the Fleet Air Arm and subsequently in the Royal Air Force. This book, written for the author's grandchildren, seeks to describe in down-to-earth terms many of the major world and national events which occurred from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Woven into this tapestry is a light-hearted account of how his family developed during the same period.