An eccentric Welsh aviator known as the Flying Vet has been placed in a psychiatric ward in Texas after landing near George Bush's ranch to try to thank the US President for his rescue from sharks in the Caribbean.

Maurice Kirk, 63, from Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan, was handcuffed at gunpoint by police on Saturday before he could pin a thank-you note to the President's front gate, his wife said.

Kirstie Kirk, 48, said her husband wanted to express his gratitude to Mr Bush after the US Coast Guard fished him out of the sea in February when his Piper Cub light aircraft went down on the Caribbean leg of his round-the-world trip.

“He had landed near — but he insists outside — the prohibited zone around George Bush's ranch. He was walking along a lane towards the ranch intending to leave a message at the gate thanking the President for his efficient Coast Guards,” she told The Times yesterday.

“A car drew up behind him. He said he had two Smith & Wessons pointed at him. He was put in handcuffs and taken to a police station.

“He was accused of being drunk. He failed to walk on the white line of the road. He's very, very arthritic and he's very lame. He had more definitive tests at the police station and he had five zeroes, he said. He wasn't drunk.”

Mr Kirk was taken to a psychiatric ward in Austin, Texas, and is due to appear before a judge today.

Mrs Kirk, also a vet, says her husband has no mental problems “other than he is a bit eccentric. That's not psychiatric. That's just individual. He pushes boundaries a bit or he wouldn't be flying round the world having adventures. He's a bit Boy's Own.”

Mr Kirk was struck off by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2002 for “disgraceful conduct” after 11 convictions, including assault.

The father of four began his quixotic round-the-world trip when he took off from Biggin Hill in the 2001 London to Sydney air race, flying a 65-year-old Piper Cub once used to ferry General George Patton around Normandy.

He reached Australia but crash-landed in Japan in 2005. The plane was rebuilt but he crashed again in the Caribbean in February on a trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands and was plucked from the sea by a US rescue helicopter. He bought another Piper Cub and took off again.

Mr Kirk chronicles his adventures on an internet blog at www.kirkflyingvet.com. He was due to return home today before resuming his trip down through South America to the Falkland Islands.

On the blog, Mrs Kirk wrote that she hoped he could return home quickly because “it's his turn to do the washing-up”.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Speed limit of 20mph to cut urban road deaths
• Great grades not needed to be a good doctor
• The survivors' tales