AS a boy growing up in Bolton, David Lonsdale was fascinated by machinery, and aeroplanes in particular.

He had shelves full of books on trains, ships, cars and aeroplanes, not to mention several squadrons of aircraft from the Airfix collection standing guard around his bedroom.

He wanted to be a pilot - but believed that to fly you needed a degree in astro physics.

He explained: "That feat was well beyond me. I could only dream."

How times have changed.

Now he is a successful commercial pilot operating out of Hong Kong and flying into London, Paris and Frankfurt.

He lives in the south of Spain with his wife and three children but regularly finds time to return to Bolton to see his friends and his 86-year-old mother who lives in Ladybridge.

It all started when he got chatting to a geography teacher at Smithills Technical School, who happened to have a private pilot's licence.

"He offered to take my pal, Peter Hardcastle, and myself on a jolly from Barton Aerodrome in a Piper Cub," he said.

"I was bowled over by the experience and my teacher, Mr Roche, advised me that my qualifications from Smithills Grammar School were enough.

"Well and truly bitten by the flying bug, I was going to fly, come what may.!"

Mr Lonsdale gained a private pilot's licence and then, with further experience, became a flying instructor. Then, he took his commercial pilot's licence, and landed a job with British Island Airways on the Handley Page Herald, based in Blackpool.

When recession hit the industry in 1979, he joined British Air Ferries working on overseas contracts in Algeria and then Libya.

Life was never dull in Africa. He recalled: "In Algeria we were based in a place called Ghardaia, on the south side of the Atlas Mountains.

"It was like going back a thousand years.

"The surrounding towns had walls with big gates that were closed in the evening. If you were not in town by a certain time, the only entrance was through a small gate at the side known as the eye of the needle. There was much to interest us in Algeria, from local markets to French Foreign Legion forts."

When the world economies started to recover, he got a job with Dan Air flying a Boeing 727.

"While jets are commonplace now, at the time, getting your first job on a jet was a milestone in your career," he said.

But things quickly took a turn for the worse.

"One year after the fall of Air Europe, Dan Air had its credit withdrawn by the banks and 400 Dan Air pilots were made redundant; including me," said Mr Lonsdale. "My wife had been working as cabin crew with a rival airline and, pregnant with twins, had had to give up work in October 1992.

"My redundancy notice arrived at the end of October and the twins were born in late November. We went from double-income-no-kids, or Dinkies, to two-kids-no-income."

But his African experiences were far from over. In February, 1993, he was offered the chance to go to Nigeria to train Nigerian pilots to fly the Boeing 727.

"The flying was most interesting and sometimes quite exciting," he said.

"In Nigeria almost all the pilots had guns, although not all brought them to work.

"For passengers it was a rule that they did not take guns in the passenger cabin, so as passengers boarded the aircraft, their guns would be handed in to the flightdeck.

"We got used to having guns festooning hooks and filling drawers. If anyone had tried to hijack us, we could have put up stiff resistance."

He returned to Europe as a training captain on the Boeing 727 with a parcels company before he was offered two jobs flying the Boeing 747, one in the UK and the other in the Far East.

"The Boeing 747 was the original Jumbo Jet' and few pilots would turn down the chance of flying it," he said. "I chose a company based in the Far East and have been there ever since.

"We operate out of Hong Kong and fly into London, Paris and Frankfurt. Then we have free days in Europe and go to wherever suits us, really, then back to Hong Kong. I also fly to Delhi."

He said he often sees heartbreaking poverty, particularly in India. He said: "When I'm traveling, I take photographs and show them to my children. I tell them, while you're tucked up, warm in your bed, this is how other people have to live'."

The twins, a boy and girl, are now aged 14. His son goes to school in Cheshire and he has just signed to play football for Macclesfield. He also has a daughter, aged 10.

Although he regularly comes back to Bolton, David Lonsdale reckons the town is looking a bit shabby.

"It upsets me to see the Town Hall," he explained. "I think it's splendid and one of the best in the country - but the windows, for instance, seem to need replacing.

But on a personal level he reckons life has never been better.

"I get the best of both worlds, really," he said.