Summer Camp 1994: RAF Wittering

Report by Cdt M Hoole:

Wittering is based in Cambridgeshire, over on the Eastern side of England. It is currently the home to No 1(F) Sqn, flying Harrier GR7s (which had just replaced the GR5s which were there), and No 20(R) OCU, who use Harrier T10s (the 2-seater training variant).

The camp itself was set up in what I presume was the sports field area of the base (there was a pavilion which was used for camp HQ, and large expanses of flat grassy areas). The accomodation was 8-man tents, although each tent only contained 4 cadets. I shared my tent with Cdt Dunstan, and two cadets from 326 (Hartland) squadron: an acting corporal, and Hartland's Cadet Warrant Officer.

Throughout the week, we visited various sections of the base (visits that I found out on subsequent camps were always done, and now dread as the prospect of visiting my 7th Traffic Control Tower with identical RADAR screens looms). But at the time, these first visits to Air Traffic, Fire Section, Police Section, Engineering, etc. showed that the RAF is much more than just "those magnificent men in their flying machines". As is often the case with Summer Camps, towards the end of the week the opportunity for Work Experience was offered. On this particular camp, everyone was encouraged to visit a section (I think because the staff needed some time away from us), and so we all had to nominate a section we wished to visit. Being obsessed with becoming a pilot at the time, I had no hesitation in choosing a visit to 1 Sqn. However, the visit proved to be something of an anticlimax to what a naive 16 year old was expecting. There were no pilots sitting around, itching to tell us about their daring sorties and narrow escapes against all odds. Instead, a walk-round of a parked Harrier was given, after which we helped the ground-crew to manoeuvre some more Harriers back into a hangar.

Being over on the East Coast of Britain, we were in an area that is densely packed with RAF Stations. This was an opportunity too good to miss (coming from an area which, at the time, had only 1 RAF Base within a 50 mile radius) and so our DACLO (or "DickLO" as he got christened due to his attitude towards us: something that we found out later was to do with the previous week's camp) had plenty of "day-trips" planned for us: we visited Cranwell, and were given the grand tour of the RAF College as well as taking advantage of their excellent swimming facilities. We also visited North Luffenham, where we were taught about the RAF's methods of EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or Bomb Disposal).

As is standard on Summer Camps, the opportunity was used to get the Cadets' yearly quotas of flying used up. We all went for our 20 minute flights at 4AEF in Cambridge in the wonderful DHC-10 Chipmunk aircraft. Also, everyone did dry weapon training on the L98 rifle, even those that weren't qualified (like myself), although we didn't get to do a live shoot (not even with Mk8 .22 rifles).

I think the most memorable part of the week for me was being short-listed for a flight in a Harrier. I was the reserve in case the first choice (whose birthday occurred during the camp week) couldn't fly. Unfortunately, both of us (and quite a lot of the rest of the camp) became ill around the middle of the week, and in the end the flight was cancelled. Still, I came THAT close...