1015 Sqn Compete in Wing Adventure Training Competiton

By Cpl Campbell

In early June, 1015 Squadron entered a team into the new Sussex Wing adventure training competition,

Over the course of the weekend, we participated in many activities such as Fieldcraft, Paintballing, an Assult Course and a range of Leadership exercises. In all of these activities, we had to make sure that we worked well as a team so that we were successful.

One of the most exciting activities was a balloon slingshot: We had to fill up water balloons, then try to aim them into buckets and mini paddling pools. This proved to be very difficult with torrential rain not doing us any favours! However, it was very fun and entertaining.

Another activity we participated in was fieldcraft. We had to capture the flag within our teams and had to use a great level of teamwork and basic fieldcraft knowledge (hand signals etc). This was so that we all knew what we were going to be doing without making any noise at all. At times it was very tricky and as a result, some of us were “spotted and caught” and so had to restart.

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Overall it was a brilliant weekend. As a squadron, we did very well in leadership exercises and came back with a silver medal! We built confidence in different activities and even made new friends.

The Staff and Cadet NCOs did an absolutely amazing job with organising it for the wing and it wouldn’t have run smoothly without them. I thoroughly recommend you taking this opportunity if it comes your way! Hopefully, we will do even better next year!!

Cadets help at Horsham Race for Life

Cadets from 1015 Horsham Squadron volunteered to help with Race for Life on Sunday 2nd June in Horsham Park.

Race for Life is a series of fundraising events for Cancer Research, including an annual 5km run in Horsham Park. Cancer Research raises money for research over 200 types of cancer, and Horsham Air Cadets are proud to support the organisers in helping to run this event.

After an early start, the cadets completed tasks including setting up the event sponsor flags and clearing the park ready for the event. They then donned pink wigs whilst participating in the warm-up.

After lining up at the start line before the runners started their race the cadets issued water and medals to all finishers at the end of the run.

The cadets all had a fantastic time, including Cpl Read, who said, “It really gives you a sense of how many people are affected by cancer, and cadets are always happy to help in events such as these.”

After they had finished packing up, the staff rewarded the cadets’ hard work with ice cream!

‘A Great Success’

Flying Officer Chris Butler, Officer Commanding 1015 (Horsham) Squadron, said: “Horsham’s Air cadets were delighted to assist once again with the town’s Race for Life. The Squadron is entirely staffed by volunteers and as such we often support and aid community projects and events in and around the town. Our cadets enjoyed the day and their contribution helped make the event a great success for the town.”

Congratulations to all the runners who raised over £50,000 for Cancer Research UK, and well done to the cadets who helped this event run smoothly.

Interested in joining Horsham Air Cadets? Visit our Join Us page for details on how to join, or contact us for more information.

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Cadets On Target with L98 Initial Weapons Training

Congratulations to Sergeant Tasker and Cadet Denhart for achieving their silver trained shot badges last weekend.

As part of an L98 initial weapons training weekend at Longmoor training camp organised by Sussex Wing, Sgt Tasker and Cdt Denhart were trained on the L98A2 Cadet General Purpose Rifle. After being trained on the rifle by the qualified Skill at Arms Instructors, the cadets passed their weapons handling test – a requirement to ensure each cadet knows how to handle the weapon safely.

Afterwards, they each got the chance to improve their skills on the Dismounted Close Combat Trainer (DCCT) shooting simulator before progressing to an outdoor range to try some live-fire practice.

Both cadets from 1015 achieved the required score to qualify for the Trained Shot marksman award, and are hoping to continue their shooting training in the coming months. Sgt Tasker said of the course, “It was an exceptional, informative and enjoyable weekend with the Wing Shooting team, and it was great to be able to consolidate our training on a live range!”

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Interested in joining Horsham Air Cadets? Visit our Join Us page for details on how to join, or contact us for more information.

New Cadets Compete in Exercise Green Phoenix

This weekend, five of Horsham Squadron’s cadets competed in Exercise Green Phoenix. The exercise was an adventurous training weekend run by Sussex Wing for new cadets to experience lots of different activities the Air Cadets has to offer.

Cadets arrived at Crowborough Training Camp on Saturday morning before meeting their new flights along with a hundred other cadets from different squadrons from around Sussex. After a quick icebreaker activity, they then set about completing nine different activities over the weekend.

From fieldcraft to first aid; paintballing to radio, the cadets had a fantastic time competing against other flights to be the best at each activity. Cadet NCOs from around the wing ran each activity, including Sgt Tasker and Sgt Pratt from 1015. The cadets from Horsham Squadron had a fantastic experience, with one saying “The weekend was fabulous, it was entertaining, educating and fun at the same time.”

All of the cadets developed important leadership and teamwork skills over the weekend. Cadet Kedia said, “The best activity was the mobile climbing tower as it was very laid back and by the end of it I made tonnes of progress.”

The weekend finished with a final exercise involving all one hundred cadets attempting to rescue a downed pilot in the camp, before the winning flight was announced on final parade. Congratulations to Globemaster flight who came top out of all the teams, as well as all of the other cadets who joined in over the weekend.

FS Stanley-Jones Is Set for His Flying Scholarship

Flight Sergeant Stanley-Jones is all set as he is about to embark on the Air Cadet Pilot Scheme this Easter after passing the Flight Simulator assessment and interview process. Flight Sergeant Stanley-Jones is currently the flying and gliding NCO and the Squadron’s head flight simulator instructor organising and instructing cadets the flying skills needed for the air experience flights that the air cadets have to offer. He will embark on completing his 12 hours flying and logging his solo flights in Scotland. We wish him all the best on his next adventure in his cadet career.

1015 Cadets Compete in Aircraft Recognition Competition Finals

In November 2018, 1015 Horsham proudly represented London and South East Region in the National Aircraft Recognition Finals.

Cadet Warrant Officer Briggs, Sergeant Tasker, Corporal Clemens, Cadet Findlay and CI Findlay took part in the competition at RAF College Cranwell. Everyone was very keen to demonstrate the hard work and dedication they put in to prepare for the competition. The team had won both the Wing and Region competitions earlier in the year, making it to the finals.

After a long, Bohemian Rhapsody-filled journey, the team arrived at the venue, incredibly excited and eager to compete. The team quickly found where they were going to compete and settled in for an afternoon on naming some of the most famous aircraft throughout history.

With the rules and regulations of the competition delivered, the waiting began. The team was quietly confident about their chances – this wasn’t the first time they had reached this stage. The last time 1015 went to a Corps Aircraft Recognition competition was in 2016 with Sergeant Tasker and Corporal Clemens being part of the under 16 team.

Everyone was deep in concentration, eagerly awaiting the challenges they were about to face. With over three hundred aircraft to learn, the Open Competition is known for its complexity. The competition soon began and was quite challenging. From the R22 and the S92 to PC21s and the 737, the course content made all the team think. Everyone had tried their hardest and everyone was proud of their efforts for being able to get to this stage.

Despite the difficulty of the test, team 1015 came third nationally with Cpl Clemens named as the third-best individual at aircraft recognition in the Corps in the open category. The team, Squadron and Region were all immensely proud of their standards!

Sgt Tasker

FS Brown – My Experiences In Peru

In August 2018, the Sussex Wing Adventure Training Team ran a two-and-a-half week expedition to Peru. The Sussex Wing Peru expedition was a chance for members of 1015 Horsham Squadron to help build a new toilet block for an orphanage in Cusco, Peru, before trekking across the Andes mountains to the Machu Picchu World Heritage site.

Selection

Training and selection for the trip had begun almost a year earlier. In 2017, Sussex Wing Adventure Training team held a selection day at Crowborough Training Camp. We spent the first day doing various adventurous training activities, including wading through a river for a couple of miles, the Jacobs ladder and low ropes to test our teambuilding skills and resilience.

During the second day, we were asked to spruce up the garden and patio area for an old people’s home. This involved sanding and repainting the benches as well as scrubbing and removing moss from the paved area. This activity was designed to replicate to some extent the volunteering work we would do in the Peruvian orphanage and to make sure we were willing to do a bit of hard graft.

Training

After the selected team members were announced there was a second training weekend in December in the bitterly cold Peak District. Here we camped for two nights, to familiarise ourselves with the tents we would be using and make sure we could put them up in the cold and dark (we arrived around 1 am and it was -2’C).

On Saturday we went mountain climbing for about 6 hours to the top of a snow-capped mountain, where we spent most of the time having a snowball fight, much to the annoyance of Fg Off Foster who was hit by a few “stray” projectiles.

We spent the second day dry stone walling, where we managed to erect about 20m of wall. It was very satisfying to be able to see the fruits of our labours and the section we built, however, our section of wall stuck out like a sore thumb as it was a little wonkier and bodged than the section done by the professionals.

A couple of fundraising days and a weekend at the Royal Naval Leadership Academy in Portsmouth followed before we were ready to leave for Peru.

Flying Out

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, but almost all of this was filled up with distributing tents, stoves and the obligatory team t-shirt to everyone. Thanks to Fg Off Foster’s links with British Airways, we got a chance to look around the cockpit and chat to the pilot, before we were relocated to the back of the plane, past all of the luxurious business class seats to our more modest setting in economy. We arrived in Lima in the early hours and had a few hours’ sleep in a hostel before heading back to the airport for our next flight to Cusco.

After our internal flight, we spent 2 days in Cusco, acclimatising to being at 11,000 ft. and buying food and supplies for our five-day stay in the orphanage.

The Orphanage

 

Our time at Azul Wasi was one of my favourite periods of the whole expedition. While it was hard work (we poured around 60 tons of concrete by hand) the atmosphere and the positivity of the children there meant it was impossible not to smile. After our 5 days were up and we had made everyone a goodbye meal of almost cottage pie (It is surprisingly difficult to find gravy and cornflower in a Peruvian supermarket), we headed back to Cusco for our second resupply.

I was a little tired to say the least on resupply day as A-Level results had just come out, and because of the time zones, the results came through at 1 in the morning. Luckily they were all good as I imagine doing clearing from South America would be rather difficult!

The Trek

The next day we got a coach out to our first campsite in the Andes on our 5-day trek. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed at, and the night’s sky was absolutely breath-taking. We left the campsite at 5 am, after packing up all our tents and bags in the pitch blag and started on the Salcantay Trail, up to nearly 15,000 ft. Over the next few days, we descended into the Peruvian high jungle and the change in scenery was very dramatic. After a mud fight halfway up the mountain, we headed down to the train station that would take us to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Macchu Picchu.

While Macchu Picchu and Aguas were by far the most touristy places we had been on the whole trip, it didn’t detract from how magical the ruins were. When we arrived the entire site was completely blanketed in fog, but after about an hour, as if by magic the mist suddenly lifted presenting the most beautiful vista. It really is so much more beautiful than in photographs.

After our day at Machu Picchu, we prepared to head back, drying out our tents in our hostel rooms (which was rather interesting) and packing our bags. We got a train back to Cusco, from where we took a flight to Lima, and after a 10-hour layover, we finally boarded our flight back to Gatwick.

The Sussex Wing Peru Expedition was an absolutely wonderful experience and was made all the more special by the cadets and staff who made it such a positive and enjoyable attitude. I really will treasure those memories for the rest of my life.

Cadets visit the RAF Centenary Display at the Guildhall

Cadets from 1015 (Horsham) Squadron recently visited a STEM event at the Guildhall, City of London, in celebration of the RAF’s 100th anniversary. The event, hosted by the City of London Corporation, included aircraft replicas representing the past Read more “Cadets visit the RAF Centenary Display at the Guildhall” →

Sergeants pass their SNCO course

A big congratulations to Sgt Cavallo and Sgt Brown, who completed and passed their SNCO course last weekend at Crowborough training camp. The weekend included corps knowledge tests, drill assessments, team work exercises, as well as Read more “Sergeants pass their SNCO course” →