Although Ted Verbiest had “a lovely war” in South Africa, he initially describes the chaos of recruitment and defending the beach at Littlehampton against a rumoured German invasion. More darkly, he recalls diving for cover with a WREN when German aircraft killed 32 people at RNAS Ford (18^th August 1940). He then spent a year in Scotland, where one of his mates shot at a parachute, only to discover it was a parachute mine – fortunately, he missed. In Cape Town, his squadron built a new airfield so they could uncrate aircraft and prepare them for operations in the South Atlantic or Indian Ocean. He married a WREN in the airfield church, memorably spending his honeymoon on Table Mountain. Back in England, his squadron took over airfields as the Americans vacated, but they were cross to find they had been smashed up. Although he was duty Petty Officer on VE Day, his abiding memory is seeing a naked drunk man upside down in a dustbin.

Frank Bewley, born in London in 1931, joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1948 and was initially posted to RNAS Culdrose, where he recalls early trials of jets landing without undercarriage. He volunteered for Korea and joined 821 Squadron, which trained at RAF Makrihanish before heading to Korea in 1952. He served on HMS Glory, which flew old World War II Firefly 5s for ground support. He was responsible for maintaining his assigned aircraft and had a close relationship with his pilot, Lieutenant Barrett. Initially unfamiliar with Korea, he learned about its history through old World War II books. He found HMS Glory more friendly than other ships, but prone to rolling. He describes the challenges of working on the flight deck, where a lot of maintenance and arming work was completed, in inclement weather and the camaraderie among the crew. They still operated on messdecks containing up to 14 men, sleeping in hammocks and collecting food form the galley, rather than having a central canteen.