Air Cadets from 2210 Cowley Squadron have visited Arnhem in the Netherlands as part of the annual commemoration of the Battle for Arnhem in 1944. Where soldiers and airmen from the Airborne Forces and Royal Air Force attempted to liberate Arnhem and capture the bridge crossing the Rhine river by glider and parachute drop. Continue reading
Thames Valley Wing Sector Commander, Squadron Leader Mark Trevena, 50, has recently been awarded a rare Chief of the Air Staff Commendation at a high profile presentation held at RAF Northolt. Each year only 22 of these commendations are presented by the Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford. Continue reading
On Wednesday 26 August representatives from the Parachute Regiment Association, the Royal Air Forces Association and the Royal British Legion Branches of Oxfordshire passed to Air Cadets from 2210 Cowley Squadron wreathes to lay at the Oosterbeek War Cemetery on their behalf when 70 cadets and staff from Thames Valley Wing travel to Arnhem in the Netherlands to take part in the Airborne March, which is part of the commemorations of the 1944 Battle for Arnhem.
Cadets and staff from 2210 Cowley squadron with friends from the ACF and Sea Cadets supported the Lord High sheriff of Oxfordshire holding his annual Garden Party supporting charitable causes at Adwell House. Cdt Cpl Rebecka Kemae stated ” it was a lot of fun and its a fabulous setting for the Garden party”.
Thames Valley Wing will be participating in the Airborne March, which is part of the commemorations of the Battle for Arnhem in the Netherlands in 1944. The Airborne March is in memory to the 1750 plus British and Polish soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944 and who are buried in the War Cemetery at Oosterbeek. The March takes place on the first Saturday in September each year. The first march was held in 1947. Continue reading
We want to see your best Voyager photos!
AirTanker is offering £300 of photographic vouchers to the winner of the inaugural Voyager photographic competition! If you are an amateur aviation photographer, you could be in with a chance of winning this prize by submitting your photos of an RAF Voyager between May and September 2015. Continue reading
The RAF WARMA 2 day march is an annual marching event that consists of a 50 mile march across 2 days, each day being 25 miles or 40km. The event is held at RAF Cosford and this year had 1,500 military participants.
Thames Valley wing team began training for this event way back in Jan 4th January 2015 and has trained every weekend up until the event with a total of 16 training marches being completed by the cadets and staff, leading to team leader Flying officer Jane Wicks (2410 Didcot Squadron) and team 2IC Civilian Instructor Barry Wicks (2410 Didcot Squadron) taking 13 cadets from all across Thames Valley Wing to the march.
The cadets arrived at Edward Brooks Barracks on the Friday evening and spirits were very high across the board and we began to make our way towards RAF Cosford. Upon arriving, we unpacked and prepared for the march in the morning.
All awoke on the Saturday morning at the early hour of 04:15 and headed to breakfast, although a bit tired all were raring to go and couldn’t wait to get onto the road. By at 0710 TVW marched off in the first contingent and officially began day 1, starting the day off by saluting Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty who was the guest VIP for day 1.
TVW marched strong making good times to rest stops 1, 2 and 3 and subsequently were the first team to complete day 1 and therefore met the Commandant Air Cadets for a second time, completing day 1 with a time of 7 hours 35 minutes. It was then time for hot showers, dinner, a coke in the bar and then an early night in preparation for day 2.
Day 2 began very similarly as day 1 however waking 30 minutes later this time at 04:45, however it would appear that teams had decided to wake much earlier than previous years and subsequently TVW were virtually the last team to leave the gates on day 2. However, nobody let this get them down and instead saw it as just another challenge and by reaching rest stop 2 only 6 teams out of 70 were in front of Thames Valley Wing. This was down to the drive of the cadets and the extensive and continuous training that allowed them to continue at an excellent pace when other teams began to struggle. Due to which all 15 from Thames Valley Wing completed the march in 7 hours 20 being the 4th team to complete day 2. This was an excellent outcome and a huge achievement for all considering the position of the team at the start.
Upon completing the march, cadets had their Medals presented by the station commander of RAF Cosford, Group Captain Adam Sansom. A great honour for all team members.
Training now continues with the new goal of TVW being to complete the Nijmegen 100 mile March in July.
I would personally like to thank Flying Officer Wicks and C.I Wicks for the continuous effort they put into training the cadets sacrificing every Sunday since the start of the year. Without their inspirational leadership and efforts the team would not be where it is today.
CWO Goff, 2410 Didcot Sqn.
The Junior Leaders course is a physically demanding and mentally challenging course that runs from September to Easter every year. It is the highest and most challenging level of the leadership courses open to the ATC. The course focuses on developing leadership skills such as command and control, planning, time management, confidence and reaction to unexpected events. It does this through advanced fieldcraft skills such as section attacks, defensive operations and various patrols to assess individuals in 3 roles; Section commander, Section 2IC and a subordinate. Continue reading
New and existing staff from around Thames Valley wing attended their Staff Basic induction course and refresher training at RAF Halton.
The Course covers everything that members of the Air Training Corps need to know, including: Continue reading
Bright and early on Sunday morning the vast army of volunteers headed for Reading’s Madejski Stadium, which included many brave faces from Burghfield and Earley Air Cadet Squadrons. For the third year running 2402 Burghfield Squadron has been an active partner in this Marathon. Continue reading