Between 10th and 17th August Cadet Sergeant (Cdt Sgt) Matt Osborne of 301 (BurySt Edmunds) Squadron attended the inaugural National Aerospace Camp at RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire.
The Camp was designed to put the “AIR”
into Air Cadets, giving aspiring engineers and pilots a taste for life in the Royal Air Force and the aviation world.
Although being the first of its kind, the Camp boasted over 160 cadets in attendance, including 11 from Norfolk and Suffolk Wing.
On arrival to RAF Syerston Cdt Sgt Osborne was brought into a briefing tent where he was told what to expect from the activities on the camp. He was also lucky enough to meet Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty; the Commandant of the Air Cadet Organisation. Furthermore, the cadets were also treated to a presentation from the Red Arrows very own ‘Red 10’. Cdt Sgt Osborne said on his return that this was an excellent event as “the Red Arrows have always been my inspiration to become a pilot”.
Each cadet was assigned a flight (team) and Matt was given ‘Venture Flight’, a very appropriate name. In these flights the cadets were taken on tours of a number of sections including, the gliding engineering section, a visit to RAF Coningsby where he got to sit in a Eurofighter Typhoon and the privilege to visit the Vulcan and Rolls Royce.
Cdt Sgt Osborne applied for the camp with the intention to develop his knowledge of aviation, to which he believes he has achieved through the means of the activities on the camp. He will now use the knowledge learnt to help instruct cadets back at his Squadron. Overall, he said it was an enjoyable and interesting week.