 | This article's lead section may be too long. (January 2024) |
| Air Training Corps | |
|---|---|
 Air Training Corps badge | |
| Active | 5 February 1941[1] |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) |
| Type | Volunteer youth organisation (sponsored by the Royal Air Force) |
| Role | Youth development, military aviation education and training |
| Size | 952 squadrons 26,040 cadets[2] |
| Headquarters Air Cadets | RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, England |
| Nickname(s) | ATC |
| Patron | The Princess of Wales |
| Motto(s) | Venture Adventure |
| Website | https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/ |
| Commanders | |
| Commandant Air Cadets | Air Cdre Tony Keeling OBE[3] |
| Warrant Officer RAFAC | WO Donna Hall |
| Honorary Ambassadors | |
| Insignia | |
| Ensign |  |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Trainer | Tutor T1 Viking T1 |
| UK Military Cadet Forces military component of the youth organisations in the United Kingdom |
|---|
| Components |
| British Overseas Territories |
| Former Components |
| Personnel |
| Allegiance |
The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer youth organisation of the United Kingdom; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focussing on military aviation. Part of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC), the ATC is sponsored by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the wider Ministry of Defence (MoD). The majority of Air Training Corps staff are volunteers, though some staff are paid for full-time work;[5] including Commandant Air Cadets, who is a Royal Air Force officer as part of a Full Term Reserve Service commitment.[6]
Members of the Air Training Corps are known as Air Cadets, which is often interchanged with the term 'ATC cadets'. Although many ATC cadets subsequently go on to join the Royal Air Force, or the other branches of the British Armed Forces (or have the desire to do so), the ATC is not a recruiting organisation for its parent service (the Royal Air Force).[7]
Activities undertaken by the Air Training Corps include sport, adventure training (such as walking and paddle-sports), ceremonial drill, rifle shooting, fieldcraft, air experience flights in both powered aircraft and sail-plane gliders, and other outdoor activities, as well as educational classification training. Week-long trips, or 'camps' to RAF stations, along with other camps offering adventure training or music, allow the opportunity for cadets to gain a taste of military life, and often some flying experience in RAF gliders and RAF training aircraft such as the Grob G 115, an aerobatic-capable elementary flying training aircraft, known in UK military service as the Tutor T1.
Cadet membership can begin when cadets are 12 years old and in school Year 8(England and Wales), or equivalent in Scotland and Northern Ireland. New members will join with a rank of Cadet and can earn positions of increasing responsibility in a military rank structure, as well as having increasing skill and competence recognised in a classification scheme (joining as a Second Class cadet then First Class, Leading, Senior, Master). As a cadet becomes more experienced with camps and activities, the skills they will acquire will be rewarded with a corresponding badge according to the skill achieved and how advanced the cadet is at that particular skill (e.g. drumming, shooting, leadership, first aid).
Service as a cadet in the Air Training Corps may end at the age of 18, although cadets over the age of 18 can be extended until the age of 20 if appointed as a Staff Cadet.
As of 1 April 2022[update], the ATC strength is 26,040 cadets (29% female) and 9,570 adult volunteers (30% female).[2]
Together, the RAF contingent (or RAF section) of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and the Air Training Corps comprise the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC), previously known as the Air Cadet Organisation (ACO), part of the British Government's Community Cadet Forces.
- ^ "RAF timeline 1941". RAF.MoD.uk. Royal Air Force. 2015. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
- ^ a b "MOD sponsored cadet forces: 1 April 2022". GOV.UK. HM Government. 1 April 2022. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ "New Commandant for RAF Air Cadets is announced". RAF.MoD.uk. Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
HonoraryAmbassadorwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Air Cadet Organisation: Annual Report 2006 (Report). RAF Cranwell: Air Cadet Organisation. 2006.
- ^ "Welcome to the Air Training Corps". RAF.MoD.uk. Air Cadet Organisation. 2007. Archived from the original on 16 January 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
- ^ "Who we are". RAF.MoD.uk. Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.