What terrible news and a tragedy for all of the families involved. My thoughts and condolences are with them all.
The sentiments on this thread though have only served to reinforce that there is something very special about giving something back to the youth in the Air Cadets, and just how much the Air Cadet movement as a whole can have a positive influence on these young people. I sincerely hope this sad incident will not change that in the future.
Twas some time ago now but I gave quite a few Air Cadets their first flight in a glider. For some of them it was their first ever time in the air in anything and they usually loved it but one lad's experience has always stuck in my memory. Because, for him, it was about much, much more than just the flying ... no names or location but his Squadron was from a
very deprived inner city area and when this lad first walked out onto the airfield he just stopped and stared, completely speechless. And after a few minutes whispered "Wow, all this green".
Turned out he'd hardly ever been taken out of the city and just had no concept of what lay beyond. And we were less than 20 miles from where he lived
His first flight was the usual up round and down 5 minutes but his enthusiasm afterwards was just incredible, asking how he could become a staff cadet, running around to see whatever little job he could do etc etc..
Come lunchtime, when everyone cleared off for grub and us C/Is had the chance to do some soaring and have a bit of fun on our own (but "you only get one launch and if you don't 'get away' then tough and you can wait till we're back for a retrieve") , I asked this lad if he would be up for a 'special job that needed doing' even though it would mean him missing lunch. Silly question really but I had the most memorable half-hour odd flight thanks to him.
The 'special job'? To sit in the front so I didn't have to muck about adding weights to balance the aircraft. He was pretty handy at the controls too
