A CONSULTANT who works for a leading Chelmsford company is celebrating the publication of a sequel to his first, bestselling book.

Ian McLachlan's latest book is entitled Flights Into History - Final Missions Retold by Research and Archaeology.

The 60-year-old employee at technology company e2v has assembled a collection of dramatic stories recounting the last flights of aviators of many nations. It is a sequel to Final Flights, which was published in 1989.

Mr McLachlan, who lives in Suffolk, has had an interest in navigation matters from an early age.

When only 16, he discovered the wreckage of an American Second World War Flying Fortress bomber buried in marshland near his home and literally began digging it up!

Fascinated by his find, he unearthed its history with detective work spanning over 30 years, the story being published in Final Flights, a companion to the newly-published Flights Into History.

Mr McLachlan is now recognised as an aviation author, historian and archaeologist, and has appeared on Channel 4's Time Team series and acted as a consultant for other programmes.

The latest book features the fate of a German Dornier bomber sent to attack companies in Chelmsford - including e2v's original parent company, Marconi - and relates how the fates of this aircraft and crew were unknown until aviation archaeologists recovered the wreckage near Ipswich.

A navigational blunder relating to the attack on Chelmsford resulted in most of the Dornier's bombs falling harmlessly on farmland. The only lives lost were cows.

The latest book is the seventh from Mr McLachlan. It is published by Sutton Publishing and priced at £19.99 hardback.