Our friend Ian Adamson, who has died aged 93, was an aviator, pilots' union organiser and helper of young people. In retirement he devoted himself to providing free holidays for disadvantaged youngsters.
Ian was born of Scottish parents in Rosario, Argentina, where his father was working on the railway system, but by the time he reached his teens he was an orphan and had to be raised by a guardian. At the outbreak of the second world war, aged 18, along with hundreds of others in Argentina, he volunteered for British military service and joined the RAF.
He served with Fighter Command in the far east, seeing action in Malaya, Burma, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and India; he also trained pilots in Egypt. Returning to Argentina at the end of the war, he went to work as a pilot for Bovril, based in Buenos Aires, flying its executives to ranches in the outback.
At the start of the Perón era in 1948, Ian left Argentina and went to the US to continue his career in commercial aviation. He enrolled at Columbia University and obtained a master's degree in political science. His postwar flying career spanned more than 30 years with the international freight airline Flying Tigers and he ended his career as a senior captain.
After the war, he joined a pioneering scheme to educate underprivileged youngsters – Foster Parents Plan – and was directly responsible for six children. At work, he was a union activist and masterminded two strikes to achieve better pay and conditions.
When he retired he settled in Mallorca, Spain, where he designed and built a spectacular cliff-top villa incorporating dormitory accommodation for two dozen youngsters, plus a football pitch and a swimming pool.
Over 10 years, with his long-time partner, Marie-Claude Coyne, he provided free holidays for more than 600 disadvantaged young people. Ian's efforts were acknowledged with a special award from the Mallorcan tourist authorities. The cliff-top property is now being handed over to local charities on the island.
Marie-Claude survives him.