Forty-Two Air Cadets and five members of staff from Derbyshire visited the National Memorial Arboretum and Cosford Air Museum on Sunday 11th October.
The first port of call was the National Memorial Arboretum. The cadets were not the only uniformed service present, 31 Squadron, Royal Air Force, were commemorating 100 years since their creation.
The cadets were able to listen to speeches given by VIPs, including Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach who is Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. During the various speeches there were also flypasts from a Tornado GR4, a Bristol B.E.2c, a Percival Proctor and a DC3 Dakota – 4 examples of aircraft that served or are currently in service with 31 Squadron.
The cadets were also able to look at a number of the memorials dedicated to different services and war’s.
The tour then continued to RAF Cosford Air Museum, this provided the cadets with the opportunity to have an up close view of aircraft used throughout the history of the Royal Air Force and other air forces of the world. This includes the V force display, experimental aircraft and engineering. It was a great day out, enjoyed by all and will hopefully be repeated for future cadets to enjoy.
The squadrons involved were; 331 (Chesterfield), 620 (Derwent Valley), 1401 (Alfreton & Ripley), 1890 (Dronfield) and 2326 (Clay Cross) Squadrons which are all part of Trent Wing.