Express & Star comment: As the RAF turns 100 we salute those who flew above
One hundred glorious years. And today the RAF is as busy as ever, in various theatres around the world.
For this landmark it is only right to put the contribution of the Royal Air Force in Shropshire on the radar.
This county's military heritage is rich and proud.
There are those Army units which recruited locally and carried the Shropshire name in their titles, like the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, and the Shropshire Yeomanry, providing that close county bond and deep roots.
With the RAF, the nature of the local heritage is different. For 100 years, and for over 100 years back to the days of the Royal Flying Corps, young men and women have come to Shropshire from all over Britain and from all over the world to train for their various duties in the flying service.
Canada and America, Australia and Poland, the Falkland Islands and South Africa, New Zealand and Belgium, to name just a few who ensured that wartime Shropshire was more cosmopolitan than it has ever been.
And it is a cosmopolitan tradition that continues to this day. RAF Shawbury is home to the Defence Helicopter Flying School, giving helicopter training for all branches of the armed services.
Present this week to mark the graduation of the latest crop of helicopter pilots was the Sultan of Brunei, one of those graduating pilots being his son.
Famously Princes William and Harry also trained at Shawbury, while space station astronaut Tim Peake graduated there as a helicopter instructor.
Over at Cosford generations of young men and women have learned their technical skills at that RAF base which is celebrating a big year of its own, this year being its 80th anniversary.
While these are active air stations, employing local people and boosting the local economy by their presence, Shropshire is also a field of ghosts.
Somewhere near you, a young pilot or crew member died.
Be prepared to be astonished. In the 20th century, there were around 700 military aircraft crashes in the county claiming around 500 lives.
Generally there is nothing to mark the spot, and the place of their sacrifice is a fading memory for those old enough to be in the know.
And here and there are a few ruinous buildings or structures hidden in the countryside, relics of the disappeared air stations which dotted the county and once throbbed with life, laughter, and youthful exuberance despite the dangers.
All this on the doorstep.
We salute all those, then and now, who have given Shropshire its wings.
