Henry labouchere

Tiger Moth is finally how Henry wants it, while the Seven has been through several iterations over its storied life: “It’s all made out of Austin bits but it’s not matching numbers. It’s a practical motor car”

I just love old things,” smiles Henry Labouchere, reflecting on two of his great passions parked side by side in the sunshine on a remote Norfolk airstrip. The tiny Austin Seven and, in aeronautical terms, equally diminutive de Havilland Tiger Moth belong to a bygone era, representing mechanical simplicity and bags of fun. While the Austin has been in the family since 1955, the Moth was bought in Australia in 1971, but itʼs an equally important example of how he cherishes wonderful veteran machines and symbolises an extraordinary life in the air.

Henry was flying solo before he had his driving licence and has flown all over the world in a variety of aircraft. He has worked with movie legends including Harrison Ford, David Niven and Christopher Reeve, and has spent the past 40 years involved in every area of aviation aside from being a commercial pilot.

Henryʼs father, Peter, was a colonel in the Army and his mother, known as Peg, was “an amazing woman” who competed in various international rallies in the 1930s. He was, therefore, destined to be adventurous. During the 1960s, Henry worked for a crop-spraying company in East Anglia. In 1969, aged just 21, he bought a cheap ticket to Australia, doing various jobs then buying the Tiger Moth for £1200 and flying it all around the country before moving on to New Zealand and doing the same thing there. “I worked with the most amazing people,” he says, “the ʻcan-do-ismʼ, the money you made. It was wonderful.”

After he had returned to England in 1976, one of those people, Arthur Heath, offered him a job working on the 1977 war movie A Bridge Too Far. A host of other films and television shows followed, including Hanover Street, The Aviator and A Man Called Intrepid.

After marrying Jill, who also has a pilotʼs licence, Henry set up an aircraft maintenance business in the hangar adjacent to the old RAF Langham runway where the Austin and Moth now bask in the sunshin