RAF veterans came face-to-face with the next generation during a tour of 6F (Romford) Air Cadets.

The visitors, all of whom were called up in the 1940s and 1950s and spent two to four years in the RAF, had served in trades ranging from fireman to air traffic control.

Commanding Officer Flt Lt Richard Cottam said: “The cadets often see veterans at the Remembrance parades, but this was an opportunity to get to know them better and ask them questions about their time.”

The veterans, some of them former cadets themselves, watched the squadron’s final parade of the evening and saw a new cadet enrolled at the squadron’s London Road base.