Wing-Cmdr John Dalgleish

Early on November 11, 1958, King Hussein of Jordan took off from Amman for Switzerland to visit his mother in a DH104 de Havilland Dove, co-piloted by Jock Dalgleish. Thirty minutes into the flight and well into Syrian airspace, they were ordered to land at Damascus as they had no permission to overfly.

Fearing capture and an attempt to force the king to abdicate, they turned back for Amman, only to be confronted by two Syrian MiG-17 fighters. Reluctant to shoot down the king, the planes tried to force them to crash by flying head-on towards them.

Dalgleish, an experienced wartime RAF pilot, took over and put the twin-engined Dove into a steep dive, manoeuvring at ground level across the landscape until they were safely back in Jordan. Hussein credited his friend with saving the monarchy and his life.

Quoted in a recent biography of Hussein, Dalgleish recalled mustering a flask of tea following their escape. ''Using some plastic cups we were able to refresh ourselves with some of the finest brew ever tasted and, along with a Lucky Strike cigarette, there could be no sweeter moment.''

His theory of a Syrian plot to capture Hussein was confirmed after the two Soviet-trained MiG pilots defected and confessed their orders. Hussein later described the incident as an attack on a head of state ''as yet unparalleled in history''.

Years later, the favour was returned. Dalgleish was working for David Lean who was filming Lawrence of Arabia in Jordan, and had made a forced desert landing due to fuel problems. A plane started circling overhead and a radio message came through. ''Don't worry, Jock. I'll be there shortly.'' It was King Hussein.

Dalgleish first met Hussein in distressing circumstances, hours after the 1952 assassination of his grandfather, King Abdullah. The teenage prince stood shocked and bewildered on an airstrip outside Jerusalem, in crumpled uniform and wearing a dented medal that had stopped a bullet. He was approached and saluted by Dalgleish, an RAF squadron leader on loan as second-in-command of the Arab Legion Air Force, whose job was to fly him home.

''Come with me, sir,'' he said. ''I'll look after you.'' Their lifelong friendship was sealed.

John Dalgleish was born in Peebles and educated at Peebles High School, which he left at 14 as dux. He was a policeman in Dalkeith, Midlothian, for several years and joined the RAF at the outbreak of the Second World War.

After gaining his pilot's wings he was based at Dyce, Aberdeenshire, and Birmingham before being posted in 1941 to Transvaal, South Africa, as a flying instructor under the Empire Training Scheme.

He was seconded from the RAF to the Arab Legion Air Force in Jordan in 1950, and faced a difficult decision five years later when King Hussein insisted on taking flying lessons. With Israel and Syria hostile neighbours, Hussein recognised the advantage of a strong air force and wanted to set an example for his people, who traditionally joined the army.

However, British and Jordanian officials feared for his safety. Dalgleish took Hussein up in a wartime Auster and put the tiny plane through an intense series of aerobatics, resulting in the king being violently sick when they landed.

In his autobiography, Uneasy Lies the Head, Hussein recalled: ''Dalgleish jumped out without turning a hair and everybody looked as he asked me, in a voice deceptively casual: 'When do you wish to fly again, Your Majesty?'

''I replied, swallowing hard, ''Tomorrow afternoon'.''

The decision to proceed caused a clash between Dalgleish and the UK Government. It was forgotten after the MiG incident, when the country rallied behind their king and feelings were pro-British.

He went back to the RAF at the end of his secondment, despite Hussein's pleas that he should stay, but returned within three years to command the fledgling Royal Jordanian Air Force.

He was made an OBE for services to Anglo-Jordanian relations, received the Order of St John, and was awarded the Star of Jordan, Ist and 2nd Class.

During his years in Jordan, he was visited frequently by Hussein, who enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of his married quarters at Amman air base, compared to court life.

After he returned to Scotland with his wife, Davina, in the mid-seventies, the monarch would make frequent trips to stay either at Inverlochy Castle or Gleneagles, before driving to see them at their home outside Edinburgh, where he enjoyed the trees and greenery.

He set up his own company, Dalgleish Aviation, and leased aircraft to Edinburgh Flying Club, which he formed, as well as the flying clubs at Turnhouse and Glenrothes. He stopped instructing only at 70 and gave up flying eight years ago.

At the international air tattoo at Fairford earlier this year, in tribute to the late King Hussein, a specially restored Dove was escorted in flypast formation with Jordanian Falcons and RAF Jaguars. It was the plane in which Dalgleish and Hussein forged their friendship.

Jock Dalgleish will be remembered for his compassion, integrity, and leadership, combined with an adventurous spirit of fun. He leaves behind his wife of 58 years, Davina, daughter Dianne, son Bruce, and grandchildren, Anthony, Lucy, and Naomi.