An interview with John Romain MBE…Tom Cruise’s stunt pilot and aircraft restorer

John Romain MBE is a distinguished engineer, display pilot, and commercially successful aircraft restorer whose career has placed him at the forefront of historic aviation. He began his journey as a technician apprenticeship at Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and British Aerospace before helping restore Graham Warner’s Blenheim and founding the Aircraft Restoration Company, which now employs over seventy people working on the maintenance and restoration of classic aircraft.

As a pilot, John has flown an exceptional range of historic types, including the Lysander, Blenheim, B-17, B-25, Corsair, Me 109, Hurricane and numerous Spitfires.

Romain's renowned skills at display filming have taken him into major film productions, notably serving as Tom Cruise’s stunt pilot in Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning and contributing to Dunkirk.

John’s life story reflects one of modest beginnings, great endeavour and a dedication to preserving aviation heritage.

John Romain MBE was interviewed by Keith Cameron in 2025 as part of the Royal Aeronautical Society/National Aerospace Library’s oral history project ‘If I only didn’t do it that way…….” Capturing history from the horse’s mouth to inspire today’s aeronautical professionals. The recording was edited by edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

A transcript of the interview recording is available on the National Aerospace Library catalogue: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-5eha4-19f1da8

The photograph of John Romain shows him sat in the Spitfire XI that he restored and first flew again in 2018. The aircraft, nicknamed “Eleven” and “L”, was named in honour of pioneering aviator Lettice Curtis. In 1948, Curtis famously flew the aircraft when she set the British women’s record for the fastest time over a 100-kilometre closed-circuit course, achieving a speed of 313.208 mph.

The National Aerospace Library holds the certificate for Lettice Curtis’s record-breaking flight, along with a rich collection of papers and photographs documenting her life and work. These include material relating to her service with the Air Transport Auxiliary, her logbooks, and her post-war aviation career.

You can find out more here: https://www.aerosociety.com/news/eleanor-lettice-curtis-a-british-aviation-pioneer