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Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Martin Deahl, like thousands of other Shropshire people, submitted a photo to The Big Picture. We thought we'd find out a bit more about him - and the story behind his Big Picture. Here's what he told us.

Fulfilled childhood ambition at age 51 (and a means of sublimating my mid-life crisis)!

I actually made the flight in December 2007. Cosford has a thriving RAF flying club which welcomes civilians. Students tend to be either middle aged like me (not all men by any means) or youngsters aspiring to be commercial airline pilots or join the RAF.

The main things that have struck me since I started last summer are:

1. The beauty of the Shropshire countryside from the air - breathtaking.
2. The pollution floating over Birmingham - depressing; I think you should show aerial shots as people don't realise how bad it is unless you look down from above.
3. The sacrifices young people (and their parents) are willing to make and the risks they take for a career in aviation - ie investment of more than 拢100,000 but one failed medical and that's it!
4. The unexpected pleasures of fliying - ie uninterrupted peace to concentrate totally on one thing without all the usual workaday interruptions / that school geometry actually was of some use after all (for navigation) albeit 35 years late!

First solo flight from The Big Picture

Finally, RAF Cosford has been home to aeronautical engineering and a working airfield since before WWII. The Army now look set to move in and it may cease to function as an airfield before too long.