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2175 (Rolls-Royce)
Squadron
Air Training Corps |
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2175 (Rolls-Royce)
Squadron
Air Training Corps |
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September / October 2002 By Sgt Robert Hastie
Every year all six wings of Scotland and Northern Ireland Region send a team of their best cadets to represent them in the Douglas Badder Memorial Competition. This year I was lucky enough to be selected for the Glasgow and West of Scotland Wing team, after attending the selection weekend (see last issue). The competition was held at RAF Kinloss, from the 27th to the 29th of September. The team of five, three male and two female, spent the five hour journey up north getting to know each other, and we all began to gel well as a team. This was to prove very important in the events of the weekend. The multi-disciplined competition comprises of such events as shooting, flying skills, gliding skills, swimming, fitness, first aid, aircraft recognition, and observation. All there had strengths and weaknesses that would be tested throughout the weekend and they began on the Saturday morning. The team coped well in some events, and better in others, we also heard some reports of other teams score as well. One notable achievement by another team was a Flight Sergeant from Highland Wing aced the Aircraft Rec. with full marks. The day also included an intense fitness stage named "Super Stars", followed by the swimming events. An intense day of competition left only the leadership stage for the Sunday, but at that stage it was still anyone's game, for both team and individual. The morning brought high spirits and motivation, and a little sleep depravation, but also to appear was the Regional Commandant, Group Captain Whyte-Boycott. Everyone knew that the leadership was where the competition would be won, so extra pressure was on all of the teams to perform. Despite the fact that the only person in the team that had attended a leadership course was I, the team was outstanding. Both of the Corporals in the team received the highest for their exercises, with one obtaining a perfect score. However, we did not know the results of all the exercises, or how the other teams fared, so we were as anxious as anyone was when it came to the final presentation. We were all seated in 120 Sqn. HQ, when the Regional Commandant strode into the room with the results. The obligatory "thank you"s were barley recognised by all the cadets who, by now, were restless with anticipation as the Group Captain arrived at the results. Firstly the individual awards. Runner up was our team leader, CWO James Blair, of 1001 Monklands Sqn. and then the award for individual best, the Super Cadet, as it was called. All were surprised, least not myself, when the results sheet flashed up on the giant screen to reveal my name at the top of it. At first I was in disbelief, as I asked as if there was another Robert Hastie in the audience, but as I marched up to receive my prize, and as no one else did, that I had won. This achievement of a Wing 1-2, in the individual category was crowned when we were also announced as the over all team winners. With both staff and cadets delighted the CWO accepted the trophy, and we all promptly stood for a victory photo. Definitely one for the books, but unfortunately each cadet can only take part in the competition once, so it will be down to a new team next year to defend the title, against five other fresh teams. I for one wish them the best of luck, as they have a tough act to follow. By Cadet Jones (F) On the 1st of September, six cadets from the squadron attended the wing swimming championships at Larkhall sports centre. The six cadets competed in a range of events such as breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, medley and the relay. The four cadets who represented our squadron in the 4x25m-relay team made it to the final but unfortunately fell short of a medal position. Cdt Mack made it into the senior freestyle and backstrokes finals, but unfortunately was beaten on both occasions by mere seconds. Sgt Hastie and Cdt Jones both made it to the Senior Freestyle final, in which Sgt Hastie achieved a bronze. Sgt Hastie also reached the final in the individual medley, however, unfortunately he was disqualified. Cdt Morrison won a Bronze in the senior backstroke. Cdt Jones attained a bronze in the butterfly. Back to Top
On the 21st of September 2175 (Rolls-Royce) Squadron, had a public open day. This Open day was not
only to find new recruits, but also to show cadets parents round the squadron,
602 (City of Glasgow) RAuxAF museum, and
the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. We spent the past few weeks preparing for the
open day and advertising in the local area through posters and leaflet drops. On
the day there were hundreds of visitors including a bus load of children! The Cadets had been asked to be down at the squadron for eight o’clock, in order
to have the Wing Bulldog display aircraft up with all of the barriers, etc. At
about quarter to ten the guests had already started arriving. Rolls-Royce Car
owners had brought down some very old vehicles, which I and Cpl Muir had to look
after. There were seven of them in total; they were lovely big cars with
massive engines. In the main hall there was a recruitment stand, where people
could look at previous ATC Magazines, and Squadron Newsletters, to show them
what they could be in on. Cpl Morison and Cadet Jones (Male) were in greens,
and putting cam paint on small children. At the start of the day, two of our
cadets went round everyone selling them raffle tickets.
Cadet Kilmartin takes a welcome break on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Expeditions display with Cadet Brad, pictured above. In the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust there were some model aeroplanes that people
had made out of wood. In Mess one canteen had been put out for anyone to but
tea, coffee or just a soft drink. At the end of the day, there had been a lot
of names put down on the recruitment list, but many of them were too young. It
looked like everyone had had a lot of fun. In the end I think the Open Day was
a great success, for everyone, and I think everyone worked really hard to make
it possible, not only members of Staff, but Cadets and probationers too.
By CI Suzanne Callan This month saw the squadron netball team attend the Wing Netball Tournament to
defend the title we had held for the last two years. The tournament started with
all ten teams being placed into two league systems. Our first match was a comfortable 2-0 victory which allowed the team to get to
know each others abilities. Unfortunately we lost our next match, which meant
that we had to win our remaining matches to have any chance of toping the group
and winning that place in the final. We then slaughtered the next team 6-0 which
left us in a jubilant mood for our final match of the group stage. We triumphed
3-1 and awaited the results of the league to find out if we had made it to the
final. Unfortunately we just missed out on that place but did make it through to the
play-offs for first place against the composite team. However, it wasn’t to be
our day and the composite team took the bronze medal position. The final was a passionate affair to say the least with 62 and 122 squadrons
battling it out for the championship. But in the end, there could be only one
winner and 62 proved to be the best team on the day and won first place. The squadron looks forward to removing them as champions next year when we
regain the trophy.
WING FOOTBALL TRIALS On the 6th of October a fourth trial for the wing football team was
held at 1138 Adrossan squadron. Cpl little, Cdt Jones and I arrived at about ten minutes to ten and the was a
huge sigh of relief as the CO of the squadron said “warm them up and take them
round to the pitches whoo! Hoo! None of the hard-hitting training that was
carried out at all other trials. In the morning, we had a game of just mixed
teams to see who the stronger players were for the defence positions. In
addition, in the afternoon they put the predicted team in one side and the not
so good in the other. During the game I was told to go into the predicted team
this is because I was in the not so good team to start with and improved play
and I was dead chuffed! At the end of the day it came down to the best nine-teen were picked and all
three from our squadron were picked to play in the wing team and will be playing
on the 20th of October, none of us are travelling reserves which is
good to hear. The training days were a success and wish us luck in the big
games!
PROVISIONAL VHF OPERATORS
COURSE
By Cpl Joseph Muir On the 9th and the 16th of September C.I. Hastie ran a two
part provisional VHF Operators course and this enables the cadet, two NCOs, and
two Staff members and myself that went on it to be able to use the squadrons
radios (supervised). The first part of the course was just a revision class of the ACP on
communications. The second part was a theory exam and then a practical exam
which involved sending a message and finding out the receivers call sign and
squadron number. This was very exciting, the pass mark for the theory test was
75%, and it was very well done the marks ranged from 82% right up to a 100%! Now these participants can go on and achieve their radio operator VHF. Good luck
and well done to CDT Kilmartin, CPLs Morrison, Little, Muir, and C.I. s Sim and
Callan.
CHURCH PARADE
By Cpl Niall Morrison Sunday the 15th of September saw this year’s Battle of Britain church parade
held within Glasgow city centre. The cadets from 2175 were Cpl Morrison, Cdt
Mack and Cdt Vines. Cadets Mack and Vines assisted in the collection. Cadet
participation from the wing was impressive and the banner parties did themselves
proud.
L-98 SHOOTING
By Cpl Niall Morrison
On Saturday the 5th of October 3 cadets from 2175
(Rolls-Royce) Squadron went to her majesty’s naval base Clyde. The cadets
involved were Cpl Morrison, Cpl Muir and Cpl McMillan. The firing range there
is a 25m range. They all got to fire the L98-A1 rifle which is a manually
loading non-automatic variant of the SA80-A1/2 used extensively by British
forces world wide.
GREAT SCOTTISH RUN
By Cpl
Michael Little Every year we help the police
with the Great Scottish Run. We help them with the traffic gates, helping the
traffic flow through the roads while the runners keep moving. The cadets were
split up into 3 groups so there was enough cover for the three gates. When we
got to the gates we were told what to do and we were kept very busy. The only
disappointment of the day was the wet weather.
WING MODELLING COMPETITION
By Cdt Chris Kilmartin This
September, Myself, Cpl Morrison, Cpl Little, Cpl Muir, Cdt Campbell and Cdt
McLellan A went to 32F (Kings Park) Sqn for the Annual Wing
Modeling Competition. The Cadet’s and NCO’s of 2175 put a lot of time and
effort into their models and done as best as they could, but sadly didn’t come
away with the prize this time but better luck next year. Myself and Cpl Morrison entered into the Competition as a team and put a model
in under category C (Miscellaneous), although we didn’t win I still really
enjoyed the event because it gave me the chance to interact with a lot of other
cadets from other squadrons and I met some old friends from camp’s and other
wing events. I
am sure 2175 (Rolls – Royce) Sqn will come away with a few prizes at next years
competition as we all now know the high quality required to win the competition
and how that little bit of extra hard work and attention to detail could help
win the competition.
JUNIOR NCO COURSE
By Cpl Michael Little As some of
you know there were four new Corporals promoted this month Once we
were promoted we all attended the squadrons NCO course which was very hard. It
is like school 10 times over! The booklets we were given were pure heavy and we
were expected to had read some of it at the course. We learned
a lot of things during the activities we did. We all were tested on our
knowledge and our abilities and it was great fun.
602 MUSEUM CHEESE AND
WINE
By Cpl Joseph Muir October saw the squadron hold the annual 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron RAuxAF
Museum Cheese and Wine. It is held to celebrate and raise money for the 602
Museum Association and this year CI Callan, Cpl McMillan, Cpl Little, a Cdt
Clarke, and me were involved in helping. To start the day we provided a guard of honour for all the important people
arriving. We then moved on to selling raffle tickets and having chats about old
stories of war from the veterans. Now when I said celebrate what I meant was
that the guests all had food and wine, while we had to settle for food and
Irn-bru to drink! The most surprising thing of the day, which CI Callan pointed out, was that
although it was a cheese and wine celebration there was definitely no cheese but
plenty of wine! It was my first time going along to this and I thoroughly
enjoyed the day.
CONSERVATION PROJECT UPDATE
By CI Suzanne Callan October saw the squadron’s conservation team complete phase 3 of the
rejuvenation of Pollock Pond in Pollock Country Park. We have now cleared the
banks and two of the islands of the Rhododendron bushes which have spoiled the
pond for native plants and wildlife. Rhododendrons are not native to this country, and, being very quick to spread,
have taken over most of the pond area, preventing the growth of natural species.
They grow extremely thick, providing a dark covering over the soil which
prevents anything else from growing underneath. The bushes also hang far over
the pond preventing the light which algae need to grow from reaching them, thus
preventing fish from living in the pond. The day began with the team splitting up into two, with one group tackling the
Rhododendron roots on island one and my team cutting back the Rhododendron
bushes on island two. We were all issued with gloves, hacksaws and HUGE pruning
shears and so we started work with enormous vigour! There were some cries
however as Cadets Denovan, Glen A and Glen D all slipped and fell into the
pond! After Lunch team one met up with us on island two and got stuck in helping us
with the pruning. It was hard work but also very worthwhile as at the end of the day we could
stand back and see how much the island had changed, there was now much more room
and the island was much brighter looking. You can see for yourself how much work
we did in the picture below where the team are sitting on the Rhododendron
leaves we had pruned (hacked) off!
Well done to Cpl Muir,
Morrison and McMillan, Cadet Brad, McMillan (F), Kyani, Denovan, Glen A and Glen
D. Three of the cadets have now completed the required 15 hours work to qualify for
a John Muir Award from the council and the others hope to reach that target
soon. The pond is looking better each time and by next summer we hope to see plenty of
native plants and wildlife back in the pond area, with local schools hoping to
visit and learn about nature there. We are planning further work at the pond over the next few months and the coming
year so if you want to join the conservation team, place your name on the list
next time you see it!
AIR EXPERIENCE FLYING
Cpl Christopher McMillan
On the 19th of October 2002 our
squadron was giving a detail of ten cadets for the Air Experience Flying at
Glasgow airport. We met at the squadron and were then transported to the airport where we had to
go through security. We then went into the pre-flight briefing, during this we
were told exactly what we have to do during our flight. Then once we finished
watching the video, the first three cadets went into the preparation room and
got their parachutes, life jackets and helmets on. Then the first cadet went up for their flight. During our flights we got the
chance to do a basic flight or aerobatics. For most of the cadets they
experienced aerobatics and they all thoroughly enjoyed it and they can’t wait to
go back when we get our next detail. Air Experience flying aims to give cadets a taste of flying, air navigation and
radio communications. Cadets become eligible for AEF as second class cadets with passes in Airmanship
1, Map Reading and Radio Communications in the First Class Cadet exams.
Once
the pilot takes off, he hands over control of the aircraft to the cadet, who is
then taken through a series of manoeuvres and lessons on the aircrafts controls.
If they wish, the pilot will then perform aerobatics, taking the cadet through
loops and turns. 10 times better than any rollercoaster! The cadet may then be shown how to perform then manoeuvres themselves. Think about that next time your child tells you they’re going flying with the
ATC!
POOL LIFEGUARD COURSE
By CI Steven Sim A
large part of ATC activities is taken up by sport. One of the sports that
cadets get the chance to take part in is swimming. The ATC hold swimming
competitions each year at Wing, Region and Corps level. Cadets get the
opportunity to compete at a National level against the best. In addition to this; part of cadet training is “Swimming Competence
Certificates”. This involves cadets swimming and learning rescue techniques at
Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels. Previously the squadron had to hire pool lifeguards to supervise the cadets in
the pool however last month the ATC ran a course at RAF Cosford. I thought it
would be beneficial primarily to 2175 (Rolls-Royce) Squadron that I attend this
course so that I myself could teach, supervise and authorise swimming
certificates. The course itself was split into 2 weekends. I underestimated how intense this
course would be. It did not only involve me learning and putting into practice
lifesaving techniques at the pool but I was also assessed at first aid and my
overall fitness. I
successfully passed this course and am now a qualified pool lifeguard holding a
NARS certificate. I hope to put my skills to good use in the ATC.
ROLL OF HONOUR Promotion to Cadet
Corporal Cpl Morrison
Cpl Muir Cpl McMillan
Cpl Little Regional “Supercadet”
at Douglas Bader Competition Sgt Hastie Gliding Scholarship Cdt McLellan (F) GIC Certificates GIC1
- Cdt McLellan A GIC 2
- Cpl Muir, Cpl Little, Cdt Kayani Swimming Medals Sgt Hastie – Bronze, Wing &
Region Cpl Morrison – Bronze, Wing Cdt Jones – Bronze, Wing Cdt Mack (F) – Bronze,
Region Wing Sporting Blues Football – Cpl Muir, Cpl
Little, Cdt Jones Netball – Cdt Mack
Hockey – Cdt Brad, Cdt
Vines, Cdt Mack Graduation from
Probationer to Cadet Cdt Reid
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