The village was the birthplace of Faith Emmeline Backhouse, mother of the war poet John Gillespie Magee, Jr..
In 1941, while at Avon Old Farms School, he was a teacher and mentor to John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who later wrote the famous poem "High Flight."
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. - trained with No. 9 E.F.T.S. from January - March 1941.
John F. Kennedy | Pope John Paul II | Elton John | John | John Lennon | John Wayne | John McCain | John Kerry | John Cage | Dizzy Gillespie | Olivia Newton-John | John Williams | John Peel | John Adams | John Steinbeck | John Travolta | John Milton | John Zorn | John Marshall | John Howard | John Singer Sargent | John Ruskin | John Updike | John Maynard Keynes | John Coltrane | John Cleese | St. John's | John Waters | John Lee Hooker | John Huston |
During the Second World War the station was home to Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons and to Douglas Bader, Guy Gibson, and poet John Gillespie Magee.