A Mid Sussex widow is fighting the RAF after the service slashed her pension within days of her husband's death.

Joyce Munson, 55, said more than 50 per cent of her RAF income has been cut and she will have to get a job to keep her home.

Mrs Munson, of Downs Croft, Burgess Hill, said: "I'm not fighting for myself - I will survive - but for those who find themselves in the same situation, RAF widows left with young children to raise."

Mrs Munson, whose husband spent more than 37 years in the RAF, is planning to lobby her MP Nicholas Soames.

She said: "I'm going to kick up a fuss. This isn't fair and I'm saying 'up yours, RAF'."

Her husband Chris, 58, who died of a brain tumour, joined the RAF after his 15th birthday and retired five years ago, at 53, as a warrant officer.

Mr Munson spent the past five years working as a civilian for Sussex Police, handling calls at Brighton police station.

RAF and police officers are expected at the funeral service at St Andrew's Church, Burgess Hill, on Monday.

Within days of his death, Mrs Munson received notification that her husband's RAF pension was to be slashed more than 50 per cent to £514 per month.

Together with a widow's pension of £292, her monthly income will be just over £800.

It is standard RAF practice for a pension to be cut after the death of the person claiming it.

Mrs Munson, who lives in a four-bedroom house, said people in worse financial situations might scoff at her plight.

But, she said, she and her husband dreamt of moving to Sussex and she would now have to get a job to keep the house.

She said: "We have worked all our lives and Chris dedicated his life to the RAF. The kind of life Chris wanted for us is now threatened."

Mrs Munson, who served in the RAF herself for five years, intends to become a volunteer at Hurstwood Park Hospital in Haywards Heath, where her husband was treated and search for work.

"Chris was the most fantastic person and he would be devastated to know what had happened. I'm disgusted with the RAF."