Most of us will remember the Royal Air Force for the bravery of its members during the Battle of Britain when they defended our country against the German air force and scuppered their attempted invasion of Britain and in the present time their sorties during the Iran/Iraq and Gulf Wars.
Being a child in an air force family had its ups and downs. My dad, for instance, was sent on a couple of unaccompanied tours abroad which meant that there was trouble in the country to which he was posted, and therefore it was deemed too dangerous for us to go with him - he spent three years by himself in the Middle East while we lived in Cornwall with my grandparents.
Families were never in the same place for long, you had friends but often their fathers were sent to a different base than you. The longest a family spent on a base was three years, but you could be moved pretty quickly, for instance, I spent my last year of primary education in three different counties, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Cambridgeshire. One base I particularly remember was RAF Syerston in Nottinghamshire because I remember my brother and I, at the age of seven and five, walking to school on our own (I didn't let my own children out of my sight at that age!)
If you click on the link below you can read about Operation Grapple one of my father's first experience in the Royal Air Force.
meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/operation-grapplethe-dropping-of-britains-first-h-bomb