by Luke Mogford

1. 215 (City of Swansea) Squadron
Air Training Corps
By Luke Mogford
Staff Cadet Sergeant

2. History of ATC and 215 City of
Swansea Squadron
The Air Training Corps 215 Squadron
 The ATC (Formerly Air  Started in 1941
Defence Cadet Corps) was  1st Commanding Officer: Sir
formed in 1938 Arthur Whitten Brown
 J. A. Chamier The Father of
the ATC  Founded Squadron Motto
“The Way Ahead” - “Y
 After 7 years of the ADCC
100,000 cadets joined the Ffordd Ymlaen”
RAF  1980: females were allowed
 1941 ADCC was restructured in, the squadron has never
and renamed the Air Training looked back
Corps and thrives today
 This is the year we
officially refer to the
start of the ATC

3. Lengths of service for Commanding
Officers of 215
Sqn Ldr Flower (TOTAL)
Sqn Ldr Flower
Flt Lt Flower
Sqn Ldr Williams
Sqn Ldr Rixon
Sqn Ldr Edmunds
Sqn Ldr Davies
Flt Lt Hedley
Flt Lt Howell
Flt Lt Cummins
Sqn Ldr Parker
Flt Lt Griffiths
Sqn Ldr Jones
Flt Lt Whitten-Brown
0 5 10 15 20
Length of Service

4. Activities
Duke Of Edinburgh Awards
Shooting
Annual Camps
Air Shows
Flying and Gliding
And many more…

5. Flying & Gliding
Flying and Gliding are two of the best activities that you can do in the cadets. Gliding is
more suited to those who like the idea of a nice relaxing flight. Whereas flying gives you
the option of a more exhilarating flight, thanks to aerobatics (going upside
down, performing loops, barrel rolls and stall turns…). At the age of 16 you can choose to
do either a flying scholarship or a gliding scholarship, or if you’re feeling adventurous…
Both! A member of 215 has taken time out of cadets to achieve his Private Pilot’s Licence
(PPL), another member is taking lessons to get his PPL.
Image “photo of grop mar 07” used with permission from 215 City of
Swansea Squadron Air Training Corps ©

6. Air Cadet Camps
 Easter
 RAF Halton
 RAF Lyneham
 Summer
 RAF Linton On Ouse
 RAF St Mawgan
 RAF Aldergrove
 RAF Wittering
 Autumn
 RAF Valley
 Overseas Red Arrows flypast
 Rhiendhalen (Germany) 9 British Aerospace Hawk aircraft of RAF Red Arrows
aerobatic team provide a fitting end to the occasion on the
 Akrotiri (Cyprus) Trooping of the Colour 2009
by Oxyman (©CCL)

7. My time with 215 Swansea Sqn
I’ve been with 215 for 5, nearly 6, years of my life now, and quite frankly it has
been time well spent. If I didn’t join cadets, I never would have had the chance
to visit RAF Stations, learn new skills and make amazing friends. A friend of
mine asked me to join, because he thought I’d enjoy it. He was right. When I
joined 215, it had such a friendly atmosphere, I knew it was a place I was going
to stay. Nowadays, you can’t join a military organisation without wanting to
progress through the ranks (well do you want to be a cadet for all of your
time?). I wanted to go up through the ranks. And the rest, as they say, is
history…

8. Cadet Opinions
Pros Cons
Everyone gets treated equally With a large number of cadets comes a
large number of arguments and
disagreements
Get the opportunity to do things not Certain cadets put a huge amount of
many others have the chance to like the effort into attending activities and bag
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Flying and packing, but get the same amount of
Gliding, opportunities to go flying as the cadets
who don’t put any effort in at all
Learn new skills A lot of childish behaviour
Meet new people Lack of discipline due to people not
taking newly turned Corporals seriously
Limited amount of job vacancies there Cadets does have its boring side with
are nowadays, the qualifications I got some of the activities we do, but that’s
from cadets will help me get a job in the all part of being in the Air Cadets.
future.

9. How did Cadets join… The Results
Influenced By Friends Influenced by Family
5%
15%
Yes
40%
Total Yes
No Total No
42% 53%
Total Other
Other
45%
Ambition to join RAF
Liked The Activities
5%
0%
0% 21%
Yes
Yes
No No
Other Other
74%
100%

10. Acknowledgements
 www.215squadron.org.uk
 Special Thanks to Squadron Leader P. C. Flower
MBE DL RAFVR(T) Commanding Officer of 215
Squadron
 Images by Oxyman from
http://www.geograph.org.uk (available under CCL)
 My thanks to the following cadets
 Jack Deschoolmeester
 Soren Hayward
 Mike Hinder
 Roisin Oldroyd
 Steven Tyler
 Jackson Webb