Fifty Air Cadets and Staff from 301 (Bury St Edmunds) Squadron, Royal Air Force Air Cadets, were treated to a tour of 656 Squadron, 4 Regiment Army Air Corps’ Apache Longbows on Tuesday night at Wattisham Airfield.
The trip was organised with help from members of 6 (Reserve) Regiment who are stationed next to the Air Cadet Building.
The cadets were given a guided tour of 18m long £20 million aircraft by the pilots and ground crew who gave up their time for the cadets. Each cadet, and member of staff, was allowed to sit on the edge of the cockpit and were shown how the crew are
able to fly the aircraft whilst the on board computers constantly scan for targets and prioritises the threat level of each one. Many remarked that the ‘gunners’ controls didn’t look dissimilar to a PlayStation controller.
Armourers also set out a display of the weapons that can be fitted to the ‘flying tank’ from 30mm rounds to the 7 inch, 45Kg ‘Hellfire’ air-to-surface missile. The crew explained how the range meant that the Apache could destroy an enemy target from 8km away meaning the helicopter could remain out of harm’s way.
The trip was also a great opportunity for our new recruits to get to see something only available to members of the cadet forces. It is unlikely they would ever be given the opportunity to see state of the art military hardware by any other means.
On behalf of the cadets and staff of 301 (Bury St Edmunds) Squadron we would like to thank the members of both 677 Squadron, 6 (Reserve) Regiment and 656 Squadron, 4 Regiment Army Air Corps for putting on the display. We hope to visit and work with them again in the future.