A group of air cadets from 1279 (Melton Mowbray) Squadron spent a week having the time of their lives as they helped out at one of the world’s largest air shows, the Royal International Air Tattoo, otherwise known as RIAT. For the teenagers from Melton, this was an opportunity that they had been looking forward to for many months after finding out that they had received a place as part of the air cadet group who help at the airshow.
The air cadets were split up into different flights for the week with a range of tasks to complete during their working hours. Tasks ranged from assisting with crowd control, helping out in the RAF village, performing admin duties, helping at the VIP compounds and conducting FOD plods – on the lookout for any rubbish that could cause damage to aircraft. On top of these normal duties, some of the Melton air cadets were selected to provide a guard of honour for the Annual Gala Dinner attended by many dignitaries, senior officers from a range of commonwealth forces and VIPs such as Commandant Air Cadets, Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty.
The cadets were also given a lot of time to relax and enjoy the airshow. These were the opportunities that the cadets had most looked forward to and enjoyed exploring aircraft such as the apache, C-130 Hercules and Lynx as well as meeting many of the pilots and aircrews who flew them, including the world famous red arrows team. One of the Melton air cadets who attended, Cadet Alfred Rudkin, aged 14, commented, ‘This was without doubt the best camp I’ve ever been on and was a fantastic experience. RIAT 2015 was amazing!’