John Dowling (RAF officer)

Wing Commander John Reginald Dowling, was a Royal Air Force officer and helicopter pilot famous for placing the spire of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral on 22 April 1962. He was a Lancaster bomber pilot during the Second World War, and the author of RAF Helicopters: The First Twenty Years, a comprehensive overview of the RAF's early helicopters and their uses.
Dowling was born in Withington Manchester, the son of Dr Stephen Dowling and Mrs Kathleen Dowling. One of four children, he was educated at Ampleforth College and practised Catholicism all of his life.