A former British Army major and Cold War spy has died, aged 66.

Simon Gordon-Duff, who lived in Beckley, near Oxford, was a Scots Guard and a helicopter pilot before becoming a spy for the British Army in East Germany during the Cold War.

Originally from Edinburgh, Mr Gordon-Duff was educated at Eton and joined the Scots Guards soon after leaving school.

He was a considered an ace pilot and flew helicopters for the British Army as they defended Malaysia during its conflict with Indonesia in 1963.

In testimony to his flying skills, a platoon of the Army Air Corps based in Malaysia was named ‘Duff Airways’ in his honour.

He was also mentioned in dispatches for his “gallant conduct” while flying helicopters in Aden in Yemen in 1968.

In 1976, Mr Gordon-Duff joined BRIXMIS, the British Commanders in Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany.

His job as a liaison officer was to travel openly across the Berlin Wall into East Germany and to rub shoulders with his Soviet and East German counterparts.

Fluent in both Russian and German, Mr Gordon-Duff’s mission was to gain as much secret information about the military capabilities of the Russians and the East Germans as he could.

Mr Gordon-Duff had several narrow escapes and was lucky to escape serious injury when his Opel car was rammed by a nine-tonne truck in an attack believed to have been carried out by the Stasi – the East German secret police.

Mr Gordon-Duff suffered concussion in the attack and he and a driver were left trapped in the car for four hours while surrounded by the East German air force and police.

On returning to civilian life, he settled in Oxfordshire and worked as an estate agent for Knight Frank in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

Mr Gordon-Duff married Caroline Howard at St Anthony of Padua Church in Headington in 1990.

After taking early retirement, he ran an organic cattle farm at Lodge Farm in Beckley.

Mr Gordon-Duff died from liver cancer while at home on January 3. His funeral at Beckley Church on January 17 was attended by around 200 people.

He leaves his wife Caroline, 61, and a step-son, Nicholas Craig, 31.