No you weren’t.

At that time life in the RAF wasn’t what it seems through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia and history. The ethos that is now generally held to have prevailed – at times by myself as well – was not in evidence in those days. Flying or maintaining the various aircraft types we had back then was tough. Not a macho ‘tough’ but an energy sapping, unrecognised, un-remarked and back-breaking ‘tough’. Out on an airfield at 04:30 with the driving snow coming at you horizontally, ice everywhere and you’re trying to get some recalcitrant bit of kit or system to work properly and your fingers, hands and whole body is freezing and numb . . . I would guess that just about any ex-RAF bloke you ask about those time in the 60s will tell you much the same thing and relate stories of privations that would curl your toes. As with the blokes in WWII, the whole thing only becomes ‘great’ long after it is over and nostalgia sets in.

No, be thankful that you live in a time when the ‘overall’ effect is now considered ‘romantic’.

😎

yep, and the living conditions for your average airman back then were most likely just as bad, they were just starting to improve when I joined up.