Robert Rycroft was born at Bradford, the once famous woollen capital in the then West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was an Erk, an ordinary airman in the pre-WWII Royal Air Force...ver maisRobert Rycroft was born at Bradford, the once famous woollen capital in the then West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was an Erk, an ordinary airman in the pre-WWII Royal Air Force, who served eight years, many in Mesopotamia. Robert joined the RAF in 1952 as a Trenchard's brat, aircraft apprentice; another Erk! He served seven years, several on Canberra bomber squadrons, finally on Bloodhound MK I guided missiles.
He married in 1962, emigrated to Australia in 1974 and brought up three children, who subsequently married Australians. Robert, now 80 in 2016, a Christian, still lives at Normanton, West Yorkshire, UK. He has dual citizenship.
His love of motorcycles, fast cars and aircraft, inspired Robert to write his seven novels in The Cartwright Saga series. Unsurprisingly, the main character is a hapless Erk called Ronald Cartwright, who runs foul of MI6 and the Australian ASIO.
Sadly, after nearly fifty three years happily married, Robert’s wife died of cancer in 2015. Understandably, the final novel, “Erk in Confusion” has been delayed until 2016/17. Per ardua ad astra; the RAF motto!ver menos