THE son and stepson of a RAF pilot awarded the force’s highest honours at 23 have donated his medals, log book and a portrait to his old school.

Wing Commander John Viney was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross for piloting dozens of bombing raids over Nazi Germany just a few years after leaving Abingdon School.

Now son Nick and stepson Paddy have donated the memorabilia to be centrepieces of a new exhibition on former pupils’ wartime service.

After joining the RAF in 1939 – two years after leaving school – Mr Viney soon started flying missions for 640 (Halifax) Squadron. He died in 1976.

Nick Viney, 67, said: “We used to go to Germany on holiday for many years and he used to take the roads to places he had bombed 15 years previously. I realised that from being 30,000ft up, he wanted to see where he had bombed.”

After the War he joined family firm Vineys Of Abingdon, founding the carpet factory that would become the biggest independent producer in the UK. Paddy Viney, 73, said: “He actually flew over 50 sorties over Germany, which is unusual. Most people didn’t get into double figures because they were killed.

“Donating these items to the school is a way to make certain his memory continues.”

The free exhibition, at Abingdon School, Abingdon and Old Abingdonians at War 1939-1945, will run Tuesdays to Fridays, 2pm to 4pm, between November 10 and 27.