Not quite. The fun police have made the RAF of today a far less happy and humorous organisation than the one I knew....
In an era of grim greyness, where 'managers' have 'visions' and cr@p out 'mission statements'
, it might be interesting to note the foreword from 'Tee Emm', the publication which preceded the now-defunct Air Clues:
"This is the first issue of a new Air Ministry Publication, a monthly Memorandum on Training. It is perhaps a little different from the usual run of such publications, but new things frequently are different. The Royal Air Force, compared with the Navy and the Army, is a new Service. Our traditions are brilliant, but do not yet stretch very far back. But we have a tradition of ebullience, even of unconventionality - in short a tradition of the Spirit of Youth and all that Youth implies.
It is not, therefore, out of keeping with this tradition that TEE EMM, the new R.A.F. Training Memorandum, should in a small way reflect this spirit by an occasional intrusion of lightheartedness into serious subjects, by an occasional unconventionality of treatment, by an occasional lack of stiffness in the presentation of training and instructional points and information. There is no harm in humour; there is indeed a lot of good....."
Is that purple 'helicopter quarterly' thing which replaced Air Clues living up to this spirit? Somehow I fear not...