Over 700 Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) personnel from across the UK supported the world’s largest airshow and got unique backstage access to meet pilots and explore aircraft from around the globe. Whilst on the annual summer camp, cadets and adult volunteers join together as part of the incredible team delivering the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), by assisting members of the public in the viewing enclosures, standing as the honour guard for VIP guests and meeting and greeting the international air crew as they arrive on site.
Officer Commander (Acting) RIAT Support Pillar 2024, Wing Commander Ben Wakefield, said “over 700 Cadets and Cadet Forces Adult Volunteers from across the United Kingdom have once again come together and delivered an outstanding camp in support of The Royal International Air Tattoo. I am incredibly proud of their professionalism, service and enthusiasm to support a hugely popular event raising money for the RAF Charitable Trust. The camp has been an outstanding success, with people making new friends, developing great teamwork, leadership and communication skills in the interest of charitable service”.
Two weeks prior to the airshow’s kick off, 161 cadets and 68 staff from the extended camp turned an otherwise empty field into the famous ‘tent city’ in order to accommodate the subsequent 500 new arrivals to support the ‘main camp’. This year was particularly exciting as the brand-new inflatable tents made their debut ahead of serving as the permanent accommodation solution for all future RAFAC national camps. The cadets enjoyed the “gucci” new homes-away-from-home. The extended camp is made up of two teams: the Build Team and Rangers. Rangers integrate with the RIAT volunteers to deliver showground operational safety tasks; and the Build Team deploy the air cadet campsite, including the accommodation and facilities. A select team of four cadets are also chosen to join the showgrounds operations centre (SOC), making them responsible for coordinating and dispatching emergency responses and activities across the entire airfield.
“Extended camp was honestly the best thing I’ll do in cadets, there’s nothing else like it. The experience and opportunity were incredible and getting to meet so many new people”, said Dale, 17, from 1304 Chippenham Squadron.
In addition to completing their tasks, both on show side and at the campsite, cadets get to explore the airshow too and watch the fantastic displays from the likes of the Wildcat and Chinook, the F-16 Fighting Falcon as it celebrates its 50th birthday, and international teams from Italy, Norway and Saudi Arabia, to name a few. The RAF Village, as always, is a universal highlight with many using the opportunity to not only learn more about career aspirations but to also haggle and trade whatever they can from the stalls; ranging from patches to stickers, baseball caps and everything in between. On the final full day of the camp, as well as ice cream and a disco, the cadets spend the morning in the stands watching the aircraft depart – waving as the pilots dip their wings in farewell.
Anastasia, 17, from 366 (King Ecgbert) Squadron said “it was just amazing. I don’t really know where to start. The food was so good – even the ‘horror’ bags weren’t horrible. I really loved meeting cadets from all around and we just got to enjoy so many experiences that members of the public don’t get to. We were on a tasking in the VIP enclosure and the Red Arrows walked in. They started to chat with us for a while, just us and them. It was fantastic!”
As the week comes to a close, cadets and volunteers nominate the best cadets and staff for both main and extended camp. Well done to everyone who was nominated and congratulations to the six successful award winners:
- Best Main Camp Cadet: Rebecca Wilson
- Best Main Camp JNCO: Amy Oates
- Best Main Camp SNCO: Samuel Eddy
- Best Build Team Cadet: Hamish Sharp
- Best Ranger Cadet: Julian McGee
- Most Contributing Staff Member: Hannah Thomas
To summarise RIAT 2024, Chris Robinson, Operations Officer at the camp said, “after 40 years in the Corps, this is without a doubt the best camp every year”.