The Royal Air Force is one of the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world, with a reputation for fighting well above its size and weight. To most people the first thought they have about the RAF is about pilots and aircrew – quite right too. But for every one of the pilots to take off and deliver a mission successfully there will be a team on the ground making that happen, actually around twenty people for each pilot (which makes the aircrew a vital, but relatively small percentage of the entire force). The daring exploits of our aviators are deservedly well documented, but what about the hundreds of people on the ground that never fly in combat missions and yet enable every single mission to actually happen?

This book is a very personal and sometimes emotional journey giving an insight into life in the RAF from the late 1970s to the end of the century, for just one of the support trades – Trade Group No 1: the aircraft armourer. After all, as the founder of the RAF – Lord Trenchard is reputed to have said “without armament, there is no Air Force”. What the armourers say (tongue firmly in cheek) is that without armament, the RAF would be a glorified flying club!