User:Accassidy

My name is Alan Cassidy, I'm English and live in Maidenhead, Berkshire. I have had a life-long interest in butterflies, but in recent years (since 1980) the South-East Asian Lycaenidae. I have authored a number of papers on these insects and been lucky enough to both find and describe some new taxa. I have been a contributing editor on the project Wikispecies, an online repository for taxonomic information, for some years. I am also concerned with photography and am a keen subscriber to the Trek Nature website and Wikimedia Commons.

After graduating in 1970, in Mechanical Sciences, from Trinity College, Cambridge, I served for 20 years as an engineer officer in the Royal Air Force, retiring as Wing Commander in 1990. Since then I have specialised as a competition aerobatic pilot and instructor, based at White Waltham airfield in Berkshire. I have been British National Champion in Unlimited Aerobatics on 4 occasions and have represented Great Britain in several European and World Aerobatic Championships. I have written and published an aerobatic text book, "Better Aerobatics", which has now sold over 1,000 copies.