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9THE VIEW FROM THE MODAir Commodore Henry ProbertA Cambridge history graduate, Henry Probertjoined the RAF Education Branch in 1948.During the 1960s he served in Singapore and onthe Staff College Directing Staff before becoming,in 1976, Director of RAF Education. Afterretirement in 1978 he spent the next eleven yearsas Head of the Air Historical Branch. He is theauthor of three notable books, his most recentbeing his acclaimed biography of Sir ArthurHarris.At the time of the Falklands operation I was running the AirHistorical Branch in the MOD and well before it ended in June we hadbeen made responsible for gathering together the more important of therapidly accumulating documentary records. Subsequently, these neededsorting and indexing and we were then asked to compile a writtennarrative history covering the RAF%u2019s total contribution to the Falklandsconflict %u2013 Operation CORPORATE. This would be for official usewithin the Service and later by official historians; it would be suitablyclassified. So over the next few years I and two of my historians,together with several appropriately qualified serving officers who wereattached to us from time to time, analysed the copious material and put ittogether as a connected account. It was published in 1988 but remainsclassified; eventually it will be opened, but that day has not yet arrived.To assist our research we decided early on to interview on tape asmany as possible of the significant personalities, a number of whom arehere today and able to speak for themselves. But Sir Ken Hayr, whoplayed one of the most influential roles, is not. I myself did his interview%u2013 we had already known each other for some years, which helped, and Iremember clearly how determined he was to assist me and my colleaguesto get the story right. He took no persuading of the importance ofproperly recording and analysing this unique episode in the RAF%u2019shistory %u2013 and he not only elucidated aspects of the story which I mightotherwise never have appreciated but also pointed me towards furtherinvaluable sources of information.