Recently, local VE Veteran 94 year old Flt Lt George Kirk returned to his former Air Cadet Squadron to be interviewed by the cadets on his memories of VE Day in May 1945. This was part of a documentary being filmed by BBC’s Quentin Rayner and being aired on TV at the beginning of May.
During WW2 George was a mosquito pilot, he also flew the Beau Fighter. After the war he went on to form the Rutland Air Cadets in May 1951, which is still a thriving squadron. Whilst being filmed for the documentary George surprised the current Commanding Officer Paul Bowden by presenting him with his promotion to Flight Lieutenant.
Flt Lt Paul Bowden said “We are lucky to be one of the few squadrons in Corp to still have their first Commanding Officer who is still a strong supporter of the Squadron. It’s great to think that the opportunities that we are able to give to youngsters today stem from the foundations that George laid all those years ago.”
During the evening cadets asked George a variety of questions about his flying days in the ‘Wooden Wonder’ this was the nickname given to the Mosquito, which was the fastest wooden aircraft during the war. One of the cadet Cpl Yasmin Makinde said” It’s amazing that the squadron’s first CO was a WW2 pilot and is still able to come back to talk to us about his experiences, he’s truly inspirational.”