quadron Leader Dunc Mason, an ex-cadet of 2499 (Wokingham) Squadron, has been appointed as the Commanding Officer of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

He will lead the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events commemorating World War II, upon British State occasions, notably the Trooping the Colour celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday as well as the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton in 2011, and at air displays throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. Continue reading →

The best of the best from the Thames Valley area have come up trumps in the annual South West Region activities held this year at MOD Boscombe Down.

With activities ranging from Drill and presentational skills through to aero modelling and media communications, the battle was on to see which of the 6 Wings that form South West Region could come away with the silverware. It is fair to say that the competition was fierce but friendly throughout the whole days activities whilst the support provided by the staff, either directly to their own teams or in running the day as a whole was truly amazing. Continue reading →

The 1460 (Banbury) Squadron band did the ATC proud when it was invited to participate in a fundraising event in aid of services charities.

Former Banbury Councillor Rosemarie Higham-Stevens decided to celebrate her 70th birthday by organising a concert, aptly entitled “Singing for Heroes” featuring ‘The Warminister Military Wives Choir’ but needed a suitably military style musical accompaniment, Cue the 1460 band under the direction of Flight Lieutenant Karl Kisley which marched in to add some Air Force blue icing to the cake. Continue reading →

In a surprise result, the cadets of 2211 (Bracknell) Squadron have won the Thames Valley Wing Activity Day held at Edward Brooks Barrack from a strong field of 287 cadets from right across the Thames Valley.

Bracknell secured the win by a strong performance across all the categories – Foot Drill, Banner Drill, Aviation Art, Aeromodelling, Photography, Media Skills, Aircraft Recognition, Flights of Fancy and Map Making. Runners up were 1996 (Earley) Squadron followed by 211 (Newbury) Squadron and 381 (Reading) Squadron. The overall drill winners were favourites 1116 (Wodley) Squadron who now go forward to the Regional Activity Day. Continue reading →

Waking up at 6am isn’t the usual Sunday morning for a teenager, but the cadets from Slough squadron were up for the challenge of Wing Activities Day. Ready to compete, we arrived at Edward Brooks Barracks prepared to engage in the competitive spirit of Thames Valley Wing. As Slough squadron’s team captain, Sergeant Pusey was already motivating the cadets: “This is a great opportunity to boost the confidence of three of our new cadets.” The new cadets at Slough squadron had been preparing and training for this opportunity to demonstrate how much they have improved over recent months, and were excited to participate. Continue reading →