Recorded interview with Flight Lieutenant Harry Apiafi, 20 November 2025

Harry Apiafi gives an account of his RAF career, initially as an aircraft electrician before becoming a pilot in Hercules transport aircraft with 47 Squadron and on weather reconnaissance operations.

Harry Apiafi describes early life, the loss of his parents and his experience of an orphanage. He explains how he joined the RAF as an aircraft electrician, serving with 35 Squadron at RAF Upwood with Canberra bomber aircraft and 105 Squadron with Argosy transport aircraft in the UK and Aden. He explains how he then became a pilot, flying Hercules transport aircraft with 47 Squadron and on weather reconnaissance operations.