I didn't keep in contact with the friends and colleagues I'd worked with as many of them disowned me.

What was completely ignored was the fact that if we were allowed to be gay, we couldn't be blackmailed for it.

Your logbook is just your history, it's your life.

I saw the Padre, which looking back was a big mistake.

Some chose to end a career early because they couldn’t take the constant pressure of being found out.

I admitted I was gay. They could have sent me to prison.

Carl Austin-Behan

I knew there had been cases of blackmail.

He was bung full of his own importance

He described what he thought of us, very crudely. Fancy picking on a general…

Some of the lads who couldn't swim, they were just picked up and thrown anyway, it was a horrible morning.

We were the sorriest set of recruits I could ever remember.

The fear