Recorded interview with Squadron Leader Mike Beech, 25 March 2022

Mike Beech served as an RAF Harrier pilot in Germany during the 1970s and 1980s, including deployment to the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes during the 1982 Falklands War.

Mike Beech remembers flying Harrier aircraft with 1 Squadron in Norway, Belize and Germany. He remembers having to eject on one occasion and preparation to deploy for the 1982 Falklands War. He describes the long air-refuelled flight from Ascension Island to the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and operations over the Falkland Islands, including the use of an improvised landing strip on shore. He outlines his post-war RAF and airline career.