Spectacles, Testicles, Fags And Matches: The Untold Story of Raf Servicing Commandos in World War Two

Spectacles, testicles, fags and matches was a ritual used by Serving Commandos after doing anything they called ‘hairy’. It was a completely non-religious act, but strangely comforting. From the jungles of Burma to the foggy plains of Germany, the RAF Servicing Commandos were the men who kept the most advanced aircraft of the RAF flying. Yet there has been very little written about them. Historians, up to today, are surprised to learn of their existence and astonished to learn of their activities. But without these SC Units the RAF would have had great difficulty in providing close cover for the forward troops and the fighter planes would have spent less time in action.These elite Units serviced and maintained, re-armed and re-fuelled, repaired and recovered the front line aircraft on which so much depended, and did it all immediately behind the most forward troops. They are, surprisingly, the Forgetten Men. This is their story.