PEOPLE are being urged to share the story of the Guinea Pig Club through a series of blogs, videos, and photos.

Seventy-five years ago this month, a handful of airmen, mostly Battle of Britain pilots with severe burns, bonded together to form the Guinea Pig Club.

This club of young men, the surgical ‘guinea pigs’ of pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, would grow to total 649 Allied airmen with 80 per cent of its members having served in Bomber Command.

The members of the Guinea Pig Club changed the public perception of injured and disfigured servicemen in the post-war years and later served as mentors and examples to new generations of burned service personnel in the Falklands, Iraq, and Afghanistan conflicts, including honorary Guinea Pig Simon Weston.

The stories can be added to the website rafbf.org/GuineaPigClub

The messages will be collected in a Book of Gratitude and presented to The Guinea Pig Club later this year.

Air Marshal Chris Nickols, RAF Benevolent Fund Controller, said: “The Guinea Pigs embody the spirit and camaraderie of the RAF, retaining their fantastic senses of humour in spite of their extreme circumstances.

"It is inspiring to see how they continue to encourage service personnel with injuries from more recent conflicts.

"It really is fantastic to see them celebrate 75 years and it is an honour for the RAF Benevolent Fund to continue to support the Club and its members, as we have done every year since it was formed.”