Control of the air was seen by many as essential to the success of any ground offensive and it fell to the pilots of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and their Harrier jump jets to make the vision a reality. Three of those pilots were reunited yesterday, Wednesday 13 June 2007, at the home of the Joint Harrier Force, RAF Cottesmore in Rutland.

For Squadron Leader Jerry Pook, a Flight Commander with No 1 (F) Squadron, the air war came quickly. He arrived in the Falklands on the 18 May and, after just a day of training, he started offensive operations flying a mixture of ground attack and reconnaissance missions from HMS Hermes.

As a squadron they had arrived with six aircraft and eight pilots but after just 10 days of operations, three of their aircraft had been shot down and two others seriously damaged, leaving just one aircraft for operations. One of the aircraft shot down was Jerry's:

"I didn't really believe this was happening to me" he said. "I knew I had been hit but I didn't actually have to bale out for 20 minutes or so. Where I had been hit caused the fuel system to lose fuel rapidly but I didn't know how bad it was so I finished off the attack I was doing and tried to get back to the ship which was 200 miles away.

"On the way the fuel ran out and I had to eject and landed in the sea. I had difficulties in the water and I was dragged by my parachute through the waves but I managed to get into the dingy. I was winched into a helicopter which had been sent to pick me up. It was a tense experience."

For Jerry, there was a recent, stark, reminder of that fateful day he was shot down:

"I have just had an e-mail from a lady in Argentina giving me the name of the man who shot me down and I will try and get in touch with him."

When asked about his feelings towards the enemy airman, he paused for a moment:

"I have no animosity towards him, I just want to ask him what happened and I will tell him what happened to me," he replied.

Lieutenant Commander David Morgan's story was quite different.

"The initial thing was surprise," he said, "no one had any idea that it was going to happen. I was a third of my way through training at Yeovilton on the Sea Harrier and within 24 hours I went from 'you are staying behind here to finish your training to, get in that aircraft and land it on Hermes'.

"We then had quite a long period going south to Ascension, and as soon as we left the Island the Admiral came on the blower and said Anyone who thinks we are not going to war think again, we are going to fight, get your house in order and you have 10 days or so to sort it'.

"I saw my fair share of action," he added. "On the 1st of May, I took part on the raid on Stanley Airport after the Vulcan bombers had just managed to get one bomb on the runway. We went in very shortly after that.

"Initially, we were told that we were going to do a post-strike recce for the Vulcan but we said no, not on your life; if we are going to expose our arses then we are going to drop some bombs on the way through which is what we did.

"I ended up being the last one through the target area and got shot through the tail as I was releasing my weapons. I dived down into a big pall of smoke next to the control tower. I remember going past the control tower and the windows were just above my head thinking that's comfortable, that's about 50 feet (15m).

"I went into thick black smoke, out the other side and ran off down the beach. I went back after the conflict and discovered that the control tower was a two storey building and I was about 10 feet (3m) of the ground doing something like 500 knots (576mph)!"

For Squadron Leader Tony Harper, it was the time on Hermes when he felt the most danger:

"When you are in the aeroplane your focus is out the front on the task you are going to and trying to achieve. The difficult bits I found are when you are stuck back on the ship, particularly when you are under an air raid warning and not knowing where the next excocet is coming from. That was the nasty bit because it went on for a long period of time."

He also spoke of his admiration for the pilots of both sides; "We all had respect for each other whether we were Air Force pilots or Navy Pilots, that will last forever. I have an equal respect for the opposition. The Argentine airmen were fine airmen who had a very difficult job to do which they carried out with a lot of skill and daring."

Although the day was very much about remembering a conflict which happened 25 years ago, for the current Joint Harrier Force Commander Group Captain Sean Bell, it was also the opportunity to remember the men and women who are still performing the same essential role today:

"These men and women served their country with great distinction and great courage. They won a battle which no one thought was possible at the time and I think that's a great part of our history and heritage and the boys and girls in Afghanistan feel that great responsibility today and are serving their Country and their service 25 years later."