RAF Little Rissington has officially opened a new state-of-the-art building dedicated to enhancing the training and accommodation of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC).
The new facilities were inaugurated by Air Vice-Marshal Townsend, who took command of AOC 22 Group (RAFAC’s command) in 2023.
The new development, funded by a £5 million investment from the Defence Estate Optimisation (DEO) Air Programme, includes an accommodation block, a crew room, and shower facilities.
Air Vice-Marshal Townsend expressed his gratitude during the opening ceremony, thanking all the organisations and individuals involved in the project, with special mentions to Graham Weyth from Air Infra, the team at 2 Flying Training School, and Phil Wootten, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Project Manager.
“I am delighted that the new build at RAF Little Rissington has come to completion. This will be of enormous benefit to the Volunteer Gliding Squadron based there and, ultimately, for all of the RAF Air Cadets able to visit that location,” said Group Captain Baz Dale of No. 2 Flying Training School, in a press release.
RAF Little Rissington is now home to the 637 Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS), and more recently, the 621 VGS which relocated from Hullavington Airfield in 2016. The site has been confirmed as the permanent base for 621 VGS alongside 637 VGS,
More should be done to encourage and support all the cadet forces in the UK. That and paying people a decent wage and conditions might help with recruiting.
Absolutely, it’s a natural recruitment pool for the armed forces and great for youngsters, fostering self confidence and a range of skill sets in general.
It should be invested in…
Who doesn’t forget their first experience taking control of a Chipmunk ( in my day) and it’s remarkably light controls…
First firearms shooting, happy memories.
Are RAF Air Cadets the same or new designation of the ATC
I assume it’s still ATC??
If I recall correctly RAFAC was the umbrella term introduced for the ATC and the CCF (RAF) detachments.
They’re still the Air Training Corps but with Royal Air Force Air Cadets as a bigger name.
However they will forever be “Space Cadets” or “Spacies” to everyone else.
Indeed, although I never really fancied the idea of climbing out of the aircraft onto the wing facing the trailing edge and jumping off in the event of an emergency. It certainly leaves you with some memories though, largely revolving around tripods, strangely. Good fun though, mostly.
Ah, yes the bale out drill!!
WW2 dated parachutes, pre tensioned so you waddle out to the aircraft like a bloody duck😂
I vividly remember the bail out drill as you describe, I remember the pilot following this with “then I roll inverted and drop out, so if you freeze in the cockpit, your going down with the plane”
Great fun, aerobatics, stalls, loops etc….
‘Jump jump john’ ‘jump jumping sir’
👍😬😬
I was lucky to get my Gliding Scholarship at RAF Sealand when I was 16. Sadly, the hangars and airfield have been knocked down and built on by Amazon, and the other half turned into the government procurement department. After 20 years, I’m starting a new job back at the airfield that hosted my ATC squadron. I still have my 3822. Good luck to the recruits.