At the onset of the Second World War, 16 year old Andrzej Jeziorski was living with his family in Warsaw, Poland. Within days, his father, a Polish Air Force officer, was transferred to southeastern Poland with his family. After the Soviet invasion of their country, they crossed the border into Romania and eventually made their way to France, where Polish Armed Forces units were regrouping. Andrzej Jeziorski continued his schooling in Paris until May 1940, when, at the age of 17, he joined the Polish Army as an Officer Cadet. He was then evacuated to England along with many other Polish servicemen and continued his training in their Tank Corps. In 1942, Jeziorski transferred to the Air Force to train as a pilot and, in 1943, joined the Polish RAF Squadron 304, flying Wellingtons in Coastal Command, mainly on anti-submarine patrols over the Bay of Biscay. He continued these missions until the war's end and expressed disappointment at the fate of his homeland and its Soviet occupation. Jeziorski remained with the RAF until 1948 and went on to become a commercial pilot, settling in the UK with his family.

Air Vice Marshal Larry Lamb served with the RAF for 38 years, he took part in World War II and the Berlin airlift. Larry explains that his interest started when his Aunt bought him a book about the RAF. Larry went on to volunteer to join the RAF in 1941. Larry talks about training, explaining that candidates had to fly a Tiger Moth aircraft in under 12 hours of instruction to proceed. He passed this stage of training, with it only taking 8 hours of instruction. Training continued in Canada and Larry impressed so much that he was eventually put up for commission (made an officer) and was chosen to become a flight instructor. Larry continued as a flight instructor for the rest of the war. After the war, Larry joined Transport Command and went to Germany to fly in the Berlin airlift as a second pilot. During his time as a second pilot, he gained some much needed experience with that type of aircraft. This experience led to him joining No. 47 squadron as a captain, where he continued his work during the airlift. On his first flight in the airlift, he recalls the ‘shambolic’ state of Berlin, describing it as a very sobering experience. He describes that a standard day consisted of two trips, each lasting about two and a half hours there and back. The cargo transported into Berlin was mostly coal, sometimes tobacco. Larry mentions that contact with the Germans was discouraged at the time. Later in life Larry became Vice President of the British Airlift association and in 2008 showed his Royal Highness around the allied museum. Larry also went on to referee top flight international rugby!

John wanted to fly since the age of ten, when, on the top deck of an open trolley bus he saw a Rapide biplane land at Croydon aerodrome. He joined the RAF during WW2 and later served as a signals engineer on the Avro York. Unknown to the crew his aircraft was used as a ‘guinea pig’ test of GCA (Ground Controlled Approach). GCA was a procedure where ground control guides the aircraft in during bad visibility and was widely used during the Berlin Airlift. This enabled aircraft to land every two to three minutes, even during the severe winter weather. During the Airlift John flew 356 trips and only one of these was aborted. One time he flew with a pilot who was so drunk that he was unable to carry out the pre-flight visual inspection but flew correctly once they were airborne. After a crash at Wunstorf which killed the crew, John served as one of the pallbearers at the funeral. He was in his early twenties and never thought about dying, believing that fate played a large part in matters of life and death. On the 60^th anniversary of the Airlift the Berlin Airlift Association went to Templehof airfield in Berlin for a memorial service. Here he was thanked by the elderly and the very young, an experience he found moving. At the time of the Airlift he thought he was only doing his duty but later he became aware of its importance of it to Berliners.