Aviation artist who as a small boy was inspired by seeing Sir Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus. He went on to paint a huge range of aircraft from many periods, in a large number of which he had flown, pictures noted for technical accuracy combined with period and location atmosphere. William John Young attended High Wycombe School of Art, 1946–8, then after two years in the Royal Air Force became a painter, illustrating books and working for manufacturers and air forces. Young went freelance in the early 1960s. He showed with the first exhibition of the Society of Aviation Artists; was chairman of the Kronfeld Aviation Art Society; was a founder-member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, and gained its Gold Medal in 1983 and its chairmanship in 1987.