Born into such poverty in London that his mother once placed him in an orphanage for eighteen months so he wouldn't starve, Levett joined the RAF in 1939 at age 17 when World War II broke out. Initially a groundcrewman, Levett applied for a pilot slot and in November 1940 was sent to flight school. He spent the rest of the war training other pilots and flying transport planes, becoming a Squadron Leader. But he was subsequently expelled from the RAF after taking unauthorized leave from his remote Burma base, and so after the War was unable to find work as an aviator.