KEVIN MICHAEL LENG (grave 46)

Even in peacetime, service in the Royal Air Force can be extremely stressful and for someone like Kevin Leng, who had an exemplary conduct record, he took it particularly hard when he found himself on the wrong side of service discipline.

At the time of his death, Kevin was the subject of a discipline enquiry at Scampton and although it was a relatively minor matter, which would not have had a long-term effect on his career, he seems to have worried about it much more than anybody realised.

Tragically, Kevin decided to hang himself from scaffolding outside his barrack block. Kevin had only been at Scampton for two months. A friend who had known him at that time had seen him the previous day and stated that Kevin had seemed quite happy, although he had been making a noose in the crew room for what he thought was a bit of fun.

In retrospect, this seems like an obvious plea for help, but the welfare system in the Royal Air Force was not as well established as it is in the modern Service. Today, stress is recognised as a real factor in Service Life and one can only hope that the symptoms would be noticed and such a tragedy could be averted.