Sam Adams returns safe and relieved after his flight
On the 90th anniversary of the RAF, the Guardian was invited to join the youngmembers of the Woodford and Wanstead Air Cadets Squadron as they took their first ever flying lessons over the English countryside. Sam Adams reports.
THERE was no place for cowardice as I sat surrounded by youngsters half my age, waiting to pilot an aircraft for the very first time.
I admit that the prospect of bumping around at 2,000 ft above sea level in a tiny two-seater training plane had filled me with abject terror, but I was determined to hide my true feelings at all costs.
The air cadets sitting next to me in the pre-flight room at RAF Wyton, in Cambridgeshire, ranged in age from 13 to 19, and seemed unnaturally calm about what lay ahead.
The youngsters, all members of 241 Woodford and Wanstead squadron, sat in line waiting to go up, as if waiting for a turn on a fairground ride, and my shame was compounded by the knowledge that thousands of air cadets, even younger than these, have breezed through this test since the movement was first formed in 1938.
As we were strapped into our flying suits and helmets, I was struck by how focused the teenagers around me were on achieving their dreams of eventually becoming RAF pilots.
Former Wanstead High School student, Ben Filer, 19, praised the movement for giving him the confidence he needed to pursue his goal.
He said: "I've always wanted to be a pilot, ever since I first got on an airliner as a kid.
"I didn't have any idea about how to do it, and the air cadets has given me loads of experience of flying, and the advice and help I need for when I finally apply to join the RAF."
"The prospect of bumping around at 2,000 ft above sea level in a tiny two-seater training plane had filled me with abject terror"
These views were shared by former cadet, Kristina Pisano, who has won RAF sponsorship to complete an engineering degree at university.
She said: "I have done so many amazing things since I joined the air cadets.
"I want to join the RAF when I leave university, and I think the leadership skills I have learned during my time with this squadron has really equipped me well for this."
Sadly, the confidence of my fellow trainees failed to rub off on me, and I gingerly slid into the passenger seat of the fragile looking aircraft with a feeling of intense trepidation.
The pilot sitting next to me managed to remain calm as I wrestled to keep the Grub training plane on course as we lurched violently over the sprawling countryside.
As an RAF fighter pilot with experience of flying combat missions in Afghanistan, Flight Lieutenant Steve Riley seemed completely non-plussed by my juddery steering, or by the look of undisguised terror on my face.
Flt Lt Riley, who has flown jets since he was 19, decided to jazz things up' towards the end of our trip, by flipping the plane over in a series of loop the loops, seemingly aimed at separating me from my breakfast.
I arrived back on the ground relieved to be alive, and proud to have kept my food down.
It is clear that a career in the RAF is out of the question for me now, but I might just have a go at flying a loop the loop on my own, the next time I go up.
For more information on 241Woodford and Wanstead Air Cadets Squadron, visit their website www.241squadron. com
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