CCF// RAF SECTION
(Eastern Area Leadership Training)
at RAF Wittering gaining some great
leadership training.
CCF TEST SNCO, ScotNINE1, Sgt
Rob Lambert has already been very
supportive of our section and we have
very much appreciated his help and
guidance.
Having competed at the RAF College
Cranwell Eastern Area annual ground
training competition in November for
many years, AST INSKIP proved a
new challenge for our cadets. Although
we sent a fairly inexperienced team
we were glad to have competed and
pleased to have acquitted ourselves
well in some areas, notably the drill
competition. We continue to have good
opportunities to shoot both small bore
(air rifle and LSBTR) on the school site
either outdoor or using our indoor tube
range and full bore (LS98) at Strensall
army barracks.
We also had a few RAF cadets attend the
contingent Easter 1 week adventurous
training week up in Keswick, during
which cadets enjoyed the following
activities: kayaking, sailing, a canoe and
bushcraft day, indoor climbing wall,
indoor ice climbing, mountain biking,
via ferrata, fellwalking up Grizedale
Pike, Ghyll Scrambling and a variety of
leadership exercises.
VIRTUAL
FLYING
On Saturday 12 May, Pocklington
School RAF cadets visited 645
Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS) at
RAF Topcliffe, accompanied by Flt Lt
Patrick Dare.
The cadets commenced their day with a
welcome brief and a tour of the facilities
at 645 VGS before moving onto the
ground school training, to learn about
the principles of flight and Airmanship. grips with the principles of take-off and
landing in the flight simulators.
The Part Task Trainer suite was the
next stop, where the cadets used three
fully functioning Grob vigilant cockpits
to carry out synthetic flying training,
putting the classroom theory into
practice with VGS instructors. He added: “Being able to visit the
Yorkshire Air Ambulance and learn
all about the life saving work done by
the pilots, navigators and paramedics
was both interesting and inspiring.
Accompanying the cadets on this trip
was a privilege and wonderful for the
cadets to experience such fabulous
opportunities.”
The day was very enjoyable and a great
success, with all of the cadets receiving a
certificate for passing their ground and
“synthetic” training and completing the
Cadet Aviation Familiarisation Course.
The cadets are looking forward to their
next Air Experience Flying opportunity
at RAF Linton on Ouse in June, when
they will be able to put theory into
practice and gain their full blue or
bronze wings.
During the visit, the Yorkshire Air
Ambulance Helicopter was also at
RAF Topcliffe with some of the pilots,
navigators and paramedics.
The
cadets received a tour in and around
the helicopter, whilst the paramedics
highlighted the lifesaving equipment on
board and the importance of the work
of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Here are some quotations from the
cadets, reflecting on their visit:
“Nice, incredible experience that may open
future opportunities. Thanks you for this”
– Yuri
“Great experience. Interesting to learn about
aviation and the RAF…if I could I would do
this again” – Nick
“This day on the RAF base was really
interesting! I learnt lots of information about
aeroplanes, simulate gliding and we got to
see the Yorkshire Air Ambulance helicopter.
Thank you for this nice opportunity!” – Paola
Flt Lt Dare said: “It was a real pleasure
to take the cadets to RAF Topcliffe for
their Cadet Aviation Familiarisation
Course. They really enjoyed getting to
THE POCKLINGTONIAN
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