I can but endorse the welcome to what promises to be a fascinating and instructive experience as we peer behind the scenes of the personal met brief that was the luxury enjoyed by RAF Transport and Civilian Airline crews alike. Station forecasters knew their own backyard like the back of their hands and so could predict the timing of, for example, early morning fog with impressive accuracy. "What time are you due back?", About 0200, "Well don't leave it too late, Bath Eastern will be becoming fogged out by then and by 0400 so shall we", (we then being RAF Colerne). All that changed when Dunstable laid down the law and insisted that the central forecast was supreme and local forecasters were not to 'modify' it in any way, so you were just given the DS solution and the printout as though being handed holy script.
Meteorology has always been the butt of dissatisfied recipients. The BBC forecast in particular could be wildly in error, with much complaining from housewives who had taken a punt on its encouraging tone only to have their washing get an unexpected extra rinse cycle while hanging out on their washing lines. I remember my Physics master exclaiming in the late 50s that he had more confidence in his hall barometer than what the Home Service offered for the day's weather. It was a different world then and Met men indeed needed thick skins.
In truth though Met has always been an integral part of Flight Safety, and hence a force multiplier. Its product was considered Top Secret in the war, to be denied to the enemy at all costs. That D-Day forecast was a war winner in its own right.