Aviation medicine in the United Kingdom: cold war and peace dividend, 1946-2000.

This is the third of three brief papers that summarize the history of aviation medicine in the Royal Air Force. Unusually, at the end of the Second World War, British aviation medicine research did not enter a period of decline. The needs of the Royal Air Force during the Cold War ensured the continuing development of the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine. However, reduction of the threat with the end of the Cold War led to the requirement for a peace dividend. British aviation medicine research has now entered a commercial era, competing for funding from industry as well as from the Royal Air Force.