Why are we doing this:

At the end of September 2006, thirty Service and MOD personnel from RAF High Wycombe and the CHQ embarked on a ‘Staff Ride Tour' to Germany and Poland . The aim was to engender our personnel an interest in, and understanding of the history of the RAF, development of its ethos, the development and application of air power in all levels of war and the functions of leadership. This was carried out by visiting several PoW camps and many important sites from WWII. At these sites each member of the party had to deliver a 20 minute presentation about the history of that site. This is to enhance the learning which takes place on Staff rides and this experience was further enhanced by RAF veteran Wg Cdr Dave Bernard MBE, a former SOE and PoW at some of the camps visited.

The reason for this trip, including those mentioned above, is due to the RAF concept of Force Development (FD). The Force Development concept has at its core the desire to ensure that the RAF is better able to conduct Operations.

The concept has been broken down into 5 distinct domains: Leadership Development Training, Air Warfare/Power, Ethos, Common Military Skills and Deployed Operations Training. Each domain has a number of associated academic and practical activities designed for personal development of individual personnel and for the development of teamwork. The Staff Ride and Project 104 fit specifically into this concept.

This Staff Ride was particularly successful and our visit to PoW camp ‘Stalag Luft III', the Great Escape Camp, gave us an idea for a future project, Project 104.

In Association with:

Border Oak and Powelll & Co, specialist building companies.
The Royal Air Forces ex-POW Association.
Dr Howard Tuck – Minerva Specialist Programmes. The Great Escape Memorial Project, Canada.