"Some of you will get the VC, and some of you will be killed." The extraordinary life of Yorkshireman Tommy Elmhirst

He once took his brother Willie hunting for wild duck with a Lewis machine gun; celebrated the end of the First World War by flying an airship under the Menai Straits Bridge for a dare; and at one point in a hugely colourful life even found time to set up a brothel in Cairo.

Which just goes to show you should never hold a man's youthful indiscretions against him.

Later in life, Air Commodore Elmhirst was placed in charge of the RAF Operations Room when the Battle of Britain began. He went on to serve as second in command of British air forces in North Africa during the fighting against Rommel; helped plan the invasion of Normandy; and, after the war, when he was Chief of Staff of the new Indian Air Force, supervised the funeral of Mahatma Gandhi.

Oh, and he ended his career as Governor of Guernsey - where, in 1957, he accompanied the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on a visit to Sark. Quite a journey for a lad who grew up in the vicarage at Laxton, in East Yorkshire.

Sir Thomas Elmhirst, the Governor of Guernsey, escorting the Queen on a visit to Sark in 1957

At the start of the First World War, however - in November 1914 - Tommy was still just a young midshipman on his first posting, serving aboard the dreadnought HMS Indomitable in the Dardanelles during the blockade of Turkey.

Life was pretty monotonous, he wrote in a letter to his family back in Yorkshire.

"We have not been able to do very much to Turkey as there are a lot of English people still living (there) and if we do much more they will all get massacred," the 18-year-old wrote, with irrepressible cheerfulness. "So we are marking time a little."

Until the Indomitable took part in a 'demonstration bombardment' designed to show off the might of the British fleet, that is.

"Our ships were HMS Indomitable and HMS Indefatigable. During the ten minutes firing from the 12 guns... we put fifty 900lb shells into the forts, destroying one fort... a large magazine, a wireless station, and (killing) 500 men," Tommy wrote. "Not bad for 10 minutes."

Not bad indeed. And if you think that casual reference to the death of 500 men a little callous... well, it was war. Tommy was a teenager writing to his family, and no doubt putting on a bit of an act. And you have to remember that he was part of a generation of young men who did their officer training while at school and joined up straight afterwards, with the full expectation that many of them wouldn't live out the year, says Tommy's nephew, retired solicitor Paul Elmhirst, who lives in Stillingfleet.

Paul Elmhirst at home in Stillingfleet, with some of the papers relating to his 'Uncle Tommy'

Tommy was one of eight siblings (seven brothers, one of whom died very young, and a sister) who were born or grew up at that vicarage in Laxton. Throughout the First World War they corresponded with each-other using a series of 'round robin' letters they called the 'Family Budget'.

In 2011 Paul's edited version of those letters - entitled, appropriately enough, The Family Budget - was published by York Publishing Services. It provides a unique insight into life for the young men fighting that war.

Two of Tommy's brothers were killed in the First World War. Captain William Elmhirst - the Willie who went shooting wild duck with Tommy - died in action during the Battle of the Somme. Second Lieutenant Christie Elmhirst, meanwhile, was killed in action at Gallipoli in August 1915, aged just 20.

Tommy survived, however - and his life was utterly remarkable.

In February 1915, after several months serving on the Indomitable, Midshipman Elmhirst was selected for 'special service'.

He was ordered to report to the Admiralty where he and fifteen other midshipmen were told by Lord Fisher, the First Sea Lord, that they had been selected to be captains of the Royal Naval Air Service's new airships.

Lord Fisher told the young men: “Some of you will get the VC and some of you will be killed. If you don’t want to fly, report back to this office within 48 hours.” None did, Paul says.

Tommy Elmhirst's airship about to be launched from Howden airfield to hunt U-boats in the North Sea. He is the top figure in the gondola

Tommy’s first task was to qualify as a balloon pilot. This didn't take long, and within a matter of months he and his airship crew were taking to the air to search for German U boats in the seas around Britain. It was a job he did for three and a half years - and there were a few narrow scrapes along the way, says Paul, who contacted The Press with Tommy's story after reading a feature in the newspaper earlier this year about another Royal Naval Air Service pilot, Hugh Petty.

Tommy himself describes one of those scrapes in one of his contributions to the Family Budget. "I have been doing a good deal of flying but have only had one excitement, when I broke down about half way across the channel (the Irish Sea) and after drifting about and dropping in the water twice, managed by throwing every moveable we had on board overboard to clear the cliffs and land among a herd of cows in a grass field in County Antrim, Ireland," he wrote.

He somehow lived through the war, and shortly after armistice night, he flew his SS (sea scout) class airship under the Menai Straits bridge. "For a dare!" says Paul.

Tommy Elmhirst flying his airship under the Menai Straits bridge in 1918

The Royal Naval Air Service merged with the Royal Flying Corps in 1918, to become the RAF. After the war, Tommy remained with the new air force, and in 1920 was posted to Malta to command the RAF Flying Boat base there. By 1936, he had risen to the rank of Wing Commander and was in charge of two bomber squadrons in Abingdon.

Then came a posting to the Turkish capital Ankara as Air Attaché at the British Embassy. While there, he attended some of the legendary parties held by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of the Republic of Turkey. And he even managed to go fox hunting - after a fashion."Tommy was invited to join the President’s mounted guard on the barren Anatolian plateau," Paul says. "A figure ran forward and opened a sack containing a fox, courtesy of Ankara zoo. The assembled horsemen then galloped after the hapless fox as it ran off."

Wing Commander Tommy Elmhirst in 1930

War came: and as the Battle of Britain broke out, Tommy Elmhirst - now an Air Commodore - was put in command of the RAF Operations Room. "On his first day, alarming reports came in to say that 600 enemy aircraft were attacking British fighter airfields in Kent," Paul says.

The Battle of Britain over, he was posted to Cairo, then was sent to join the Desert Air Force as second in command during the fight against Rommel. He was later involved in 'Operation Overlord' and in planning the invasion of Normandy.

He was still only 50 years old by the time the war ended: and his colourful life was far from done.

In 1947 he became head of the new Indian Air Force - and found himself facing an unexpected job. "When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated Tommy, as Chief of Staff, was responsible for organising the funeral," Paul says.

He'd been out playing golf with his wife Katharine that morning, and got the news when he returned home.

The funeral, according to Hindu custom, would have to take place the following day - and one million people were expected to attend.

"In his own words there was no time to be lost,” Paul says. "He called up his fellow Chiefs of the Army and Navy, ordered whisky and soda, paper and pencils and set to work."

Still this remarkable man's life wasn't complete. On retiring from the Indian Air Force he was appointed Governor of Guernsey - a photograph Paul has shows him escorting the Queen on her visit to Sark.

Sir Thomas Elmhirst (left), the Governor of Guernsey, with the Queen and Prince Philip in 1957. Tommy's wife Katharine is seated right.

Paul remembers a man with bushy 'Elmhirst' eyebrows and a spectacular coloured snake tattooed up his arm. He also loved to tell stories.

"I remember him beginning to tell me about one of Ataturk's legendary parties, but Aunt Katharine came into the room and said 'That's enough, Tommy!'" Paul recalls. "So I never heard the end of the story."

It must have been a good one...

• Tommy Elmhirst - or, more properly, Air Marshal Sir Thomas Walker Elmhirst KBE, CB, AFC, DL - died in 1982, aged 86. His wife Katharine had predeceased him in 1965. Following her death, Tommy married Marian Ferguson. He left two children by Katharine: a son Roger, who died in 1999, and a daughter, Jane. He has seven grandchildren.

Paul Elmhirst is the son of Tommy's youngest brother, Alfred.

Paul's book, The Family Budget, was published in 2011 by York Publishing Services, priced £12.99.