Alex Henshaw - Postwar

Postwar

After the war Henshaw became a director of Miles Aircraft in South Africa, a job which entailed visiting potential customers in the region and making demonstration flights. But the company folded and he returned to England in 1948. Although still only in his mid-30s, he never again flew as pilot in command of an aircraft. Instead he took charge of his family's farming and holiday business in Lincolnshire. He was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct for his rescue work in the 1953 floods.

Following his retirement, Henshaw wrote a book recounting his wartime experiences at the Castle Bromwich Aeroplane Factory (CBAF), Sigh For A Merlin (1979), the title referring to the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine of the same name which powered the Spitfire. This book was followed in 1980 by Flight of the Mew Gull, an account of the author's pre-war air racing and record-setting adventures.

The Air League awarded Henshaw the Jeffrey Quill Medal in 1997. In 2003, he became a Companion of the Air League in 2002 and an honorary fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. In 2005, Henshaw gave his papers and mementos to the RAF Museum, paying for a curator to catalogue his collection. In his later years he was invited to make several flights in a two-seater Spitfire, occasionally handling the controls. The last of these came on 5 March 2006 when, at the age of 93, he took part in a flypast at Southampton Airport to mark the 70th anniversary of the first flight of the prototype.

Henshaw wrote a third book, Wings across the Great Divide which was published in 2004. This final part of his trilogy details his experiences flying in Africa in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.

Henshaw married Barbara in 1940, she was the widow of Guy, Count de Chateaubrun. Barbara Henshaw died in 1996. Alex Henshaw died at home in Newmarket on 24 February 2007. He was survived by their only child, Alexander Jr.

An hour-long film biography of Henshaw entitled The Extraordinary Mr Spitfire was broadcast for the first time on The History Channel UK in September 2007.