Originally Posted by
thing
GARETH
Bob Prest was the son of a Nigerian diplomat I believe, I read the book when it first came out. It is well written I must admit, but as a non operator, I couldn't vouch for the accuracy of it. More than anything I think it captures that period quite well. I don't know what official reaction to it was, don't forget I was a lowly erk and not privy to those sort of things! If you weren't in the RAF then you have to understand that it was very much an insular job, in that we didn't really know what the aircrew got up to, and I suspect they didn't know what we got up to. Not for any other reason than it's pretty intense being a fighter jock, it's also pretty intense fixing them, the Toom shed was nearly always a 24 hour operation, the radar guys in particular working very long hours. You were too knackered for any sort of interaction at the end of the day, although there were always plenty of beer calls where you could get to hear a few flying stories.
Thanks for the reply Thing - I'd be interested to hear if anyone else knows any of the background.....
Cheers
G