I don’t know about ‘best maintainers in the world’ as we were all trained to the same standards, but I’ll take nothing away from them and they certainly operated in conditions that were far more challenging than I ever experienced. There was still a job to be done back at home, often with no spares because they were all reserved for, or sent down south.
But it’s not just aircrew and engineers, there are a lot of unsung hero’s behind the scenes that are just as important, as are their tales. They need to be commended too, as all together, they put on a hell of a show.