Born in Ostend, on 24 June 1924, Hendrik Boels escaped to the UK when the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940. Shortly after he attained the age of 18 he enlisted in the RAFVR, on 31 August 1942, and started training at 17 ITW (19/09/1942) followed by 6 EFTS (08/01/1943) and 2 ACDC (05/03/1943) Hendrik Boels was sent to Canada for further training starting wth PDC-Ottawa (24/03/1943), attended 31 EFTS (19/04/1943) and 34 SFTS (14/06/1943), where he qualified as a pilot, with a promotion to Sergeant on 1 October 1943. He returned to the UK and was held at 7 PRC from 29 October 1943 until 28 March 1944, joining 5(P) AFU followed by 53 OTU on 23 May 1944. Promoted F/Sgt, Boels joined 350 (Belgian) Squadron on 27 July 1944. He was commissioned in 1946, and left the RAFVR, but stayed with the Belgian Air Force Reserve and joined SABENA. Hendrik Boels died on 8 May 1958.