The hit television show Thunderbirds was based on the adventures of a Jewish Second World War fighter pilot, a new book reveals.

Gerry Anderson was inspired to create the 1960s series by his brother Lionel who flew low-flying missions to distract the German air force’s night defences, leaving RAF bombers free to attack their targets.

Lionel trained at an airbase in Arizona called Thunderbird Field, which gave the series its name, and his letters home about his missions motivated Gerry to serve with the RAF himself after the war and, in 1964, to launch International Rescue and its famous marionette characters.

Over 50 years after the programme first aired and following a new ITV reboot this year, military historian Sean Feast has described the full story of Lionel’s exploits in his book, Thunderbird in Bomber Command.

Mr Feast said: “Gerry obviously saw Lionel as his absolute hero. He completely idolised his older brother.”

The author said Lionel “talked quite a lot about being Jewish in the letters, and in particular the families he befriended over in Arizona who went out of their way to find other Jews, particularly of his own age, whom he could socialise with.

“At one point he was introduced to a Jewish colleague. They didn’t get on very well, but he referred to it in a letter, saying ‘It seems I am not the only flying yid on the course!’”

Gerry’s son Jamie said the book confirmed what he had known since the first show aired.
“Every one of dad’s TV shows has a hero character — and that was Lionel every time.”

Lionel never got to see Scott, Virgil and the other Thunderbird pilots he inspired — he was shot down and killed in April 1944 while flying over the Netherlands.