Quite so, Rebus. My father joined the RAF in 1936 and trained as airframe fitter at Halton. I still have a couple of spanners they all made as part of their training, and a tool for Hawker Hart rigging that's bound to be useful one day. His last posting was to 202 Met Sqn at Aldergrove, where he had to have one of five Hastings ready for takeoff at 0800 every morning, with one on standby to seek out the all-important weather. He completed his 26 years in 1962 just as Airwork was taking over 202's maintenance, offering him exactly the same duties for rather more money.
I had vague ideas of following in his footsteps but he strongly discouraged me, saying that it was no joke struggling with a wonky Hastings outside in North Atlantic gales and always under pressure. After a couple of years he had a heart attack, but Airwork kept him on full pay for almost a year until he decided he had enough and became the very happy live-in custodian of an ancient monument. This was shortly after my Uncle John had a fatal heart attack. He had been one of the first three engineers to be licensed on BEA's new Viscounts and he too often spoke of the constant pressures to get the aircraft away at all costs.
My father had high regard for the young airmen who worked under him but worried that two years of National Service wasn't nearly enough for their development, of course most of them couldn't wait to quit the RAF. I did ask what Airwork would do when stocks of experienced old-timers chose retirement and he replied that no civvy apprenticeships were in sight though they might have employed them in England. Even then youngsters were turning away from the trades.