We have seen a lot about the floods in Europe - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and on through Austria.

I don't remember anything on this scale since I was serving at a secret Royal Air Force station in Russian-occupied Austria from 1945 to 1955.

While I was serving at RAF Schwechat, which was 140 miles behind the Iron Curtain, we could not go outside the airfield or the main gate because Russian gunboats travelled up and down the Danube, just outside.

During the 1954 floods, we were called upon to help out as we always did when the Austrian government requested our assistance - such as spraying mosquitoes and other such difficult tasks - since they had no air force of their own then.

The RAF sent out Hastings aircraft with 740 mattresses, hundreds of pigs and all manner of assorted things and other livestock the Austrians could use to keep themselves dry, warm and fed.

The funny side to this lifesaving operation was when an Austrian film crew arrived at the airfield from Vienna.

They wanted all the mattresses which had been so carefully unloaded on to waiting trucks put back on the aircraft so they could film them all being unloaded for the newsreels and local news (and, I suppose, history).

Our CO, a Squadron Leader, was thanked by the heads of the government and duly passed it on to all the lads concerned.

-Gerald E Spicer, North Road, Upper Portslade