John Francis Cyril Westerman (born March 1901, date of death unknown) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 author of children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

. He was the son of author Percy F. Westerman

Percy F. Westerman

Percy Francis Westerman was a prolific author of children's literature, many of his books adventures with military themes.-Biography:...

, and wrote at least thirty full length stories for boys, mostly about flying but some in a school series, and edited works for Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

. His most famous character was John Wentley, the intrepid airman and adventurer.

In December 1928, he was married to Muriel Poulter after her separation from her husband C N Lindsaye by whom she had two children, Hugh and Jennie. J F C Westerman "adopted" the children although they retained the surname of Lindsaye. He rose to the rank of major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 in the British army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 serving with the King's African Rifles

King's African Rifles

The King's African Rifles was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from the various British possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within the East African colonies as well as external service as...

 and in Korea. Late in life around 1977 he was known to have lived on a yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 both in Gibraltar harbour and off the coast of Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

with his second wife Margaret, an Irish career nursing sister. They later moved to a static caravan home along the Costa del Sol.

Selected Works

Novels

The Counter-Stroke (Ward, Lock & Co)