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The BBC cameras follow an ever diminishing band of students through 3 years of training and selection. The story begins with 31 officer candidates at the Biggin Hill recruitment centre May 1978. The series shocked the RAF by showing a young officer at home living on baked beans. Fighter Pilot was a hit with the viewers, but those in charge were outraged and in the fall-out prohibited officers from living off-barracks for several years. The programme acquired mythical stature within the RAF, leaving a deep-seated distrust of television, especially as colleagues of the pilots featured 25 years ago are now in charge, and remember the spat with the BBC clearly.