A COUNCIL estate in York can lay claim to its very own Top Gun, as one of its sons gets set to join a parade of graduate pilots to receive their wings.

Lee Hodgkinson always dreamed of joining the Royal Air Force (RAF), but such a high-flying career seemed beyond his grasp when he was at his school desk.

Hodge, as he is known, admits he was not the most diligent scholar and scraped through his GCSEs before achieving a C, two Ds and an E at A-level.

He accepts he does not conform to the public school or Oxbridge stereotype, as he was brought up on a council estate in Dringhouses and educated at Millthorpe School.

However, it was his sporting prowess - he won Sportsman Of The Year at Millthorpe in 1998 and played for Selby Town Football Club - and other out-of-school pursuits, such as his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, which clinched his place on the training course.

The 21-year-old Flying Officer, who is about to receive his wings at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, near York, is now urging other hopeful pilots to "grasp your ambition".

"I always wanted to join the air force, since joining the Air Training Corps at 13. I am not really an academic and thought I would be competing against guys with loads of As.

"Thankfully the air force looks beyond that. I got involved in football coaching and extra curricula activities to bump up my CV.

"When I was growing up, the air force tended not to recruit in comprehensives, and joining the RAF was seen as full of toffs. It is nice to break that stereotype. It has been a misconception and I've realised the profile of pilots is a real cross-section of society."

Lee's parents, Margaret and Ian, his sister, Gail, and partner, Kerry, will be joining him at his graduation ceremony tomorrow.

Margaret, said: "To think he once dreamed of being here, receiving his wings, and now he has done it, through sheer hard work."

Lee said: "This is without doubt my proudest achievement and I feel really honoured."

Updated: 10:23 Thursday, September 01, 2005