I hate to admit it that I was once in the ATC 228 Bromley Squadron.
I must admit I did enjoy it there was plenty of flying in a whole range of aircraft. Plenty of small arms shooting.22 and .303 then there was gliding most sundays during the summer. We often had a weekend at differrent RAF camps, on the whole it was well run, but that was in the late 40's.
RobT wrote: today they do flying in grobs isnt it?...
Indeed - the Grob Tutor T1. Which replaced the Bulldog, which replaced the beloved Chippy! They also fly the Viking (glider) and Vigilant (powered glider - isn't that a plane??? )
RobT wrote: and the rifles these days are .22's and the L98's...did anyone use the elephant rifle before they took it out of cadet use?
By elephant rifle do you mean the L-81? Well, you'll be glad to know the old buggers being brought back into service with the ATC as the Full Bore target rifle. I've yet to see one back in action though - it seems to be for select squadrons only!!!
My wings are like a shield of steel... only they're made of kevlar!
I heard the same stories, but never did i witness any thing more serious than an "ow!". I remember a people rolling up their wooley pulleys and using them as a buffer for the recoil - i (of course) am hard as nails and handled it like a man so the recoil was never a problem - my problem was always trying to hit the dam target.
I couldn't (and still can't) shoot for sh!t
My wings are like a shield of steel... only they're made of kevlar!
Now here is some thing for you lot to mull over, how many of you used the SWIFT TRAINING Rifle. This was a marvellous training aid and taught you to handle, and to be marksman on .303 rifle with out firing a shot.
Nice photo Batfink, I thought they were great for learning on. When that pin was removed from the butt you really had to pull the gun into your shoulder to get it to fire. The two pins that shot out the front and hit the paper target told you several things.I don't know if you have noticed that one is round and the other is diamond shape. Now if your hand is shaking then you will get a slight tear in the target, also it will show you if you are twisting the gun to your left or right as the in holes wont be level. Also it shows if you can use your sights correctly. They were first class to teach a person to handle a weapon like a .303 with out getting their head knocked off. Funny enough they were first brought in to train the Home Guard shoot when they could not get hold of enough rifles and ammunition.
I don't really care what anyone says about cadets, it does set you up well for the military. I'm an NCO on 158 (Braintree) Sqn and we do loadza cool stuff, the cadets just need to get more involved in events and not let the staff decide what the unit does and doesn't do. There are thousands of courses to do, but I totally agree cadets is a bit Maryish. All this health and safety stuff is good, but it lessens how 'military' like cadets is.
I was in the ATC for 6 years before joining the RAF
We were lucky, at least once a month there was the chance of a trip out in the SAR Wessex ( it always felt safer than a chippy ) In my time I have shot .22 .303 SLR and L85 , we also used to Parascend before it was renamed para gliding on our airfield
But some people are right , it did breed mini Stalins or Hitlers
Iv been in the ATC for five years and im now a flight sgt. I loved as a young cadet but even in the relatively short time iv been its gone downhill with all this politically correct shit and health and safety bollocks.
We used to be able to get out and beat the shit out of eachother on a decent night ex but nowadays its no physical contact. Im going on an RAF Regt run course soon so I hope that'll be something to remember.
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