Air Training Corps

Not to be confused with New Zealand Air Training Corps or Australian Air Force Cadets.

Air Training Corps
A heraldic badge of the Air Training Corps. Its motto, 'Venture Adventure' is contained in a stylised scroll at the foot of the badge.
Air Training Corps badge
Active5 February 1941; 83 years ago (1941-02-05)[1]
Country United Kingdom
BranchRoyal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC)
TypeVolunteer youth organisation (sponsored by the Royal Air Force)
RoleYouth development, military aviation education and training
Size952 squadrons
34,070 cadets[2]
Headquarters Air CadetsRAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, England
Nickname(s)ATC
PatronThe Princess of Wales
Motto(s)Venture Adventure
Websitehttps://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/
Commanders
Commandant Air CadetsAir Cdre Al Lewis[3]
Warrant Officer RAFACWO Donna Hall
Honorary Ambassadors
Insignia
Ensign
Aircraft flown
TrainerTutor 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; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing 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,[8] an aerobatic-capable elementary flying training aircraft, known in UK military service as the Tutor T1. The Viking T1[9] glider is used to train cadets on gliding the manufacturer name for the Viking T1 is the Grob G103a Twin II, manufactured by Grob.

Tail of the Grob Tutor T1 'Kilo-Golf' aircraft as used by members of the Air Training Corps. ATC cadets would normally wear a flying suit, a helmet, and a parachute; in some cases, a life jacket is also required.
The Tutor T1 is used to provide Air Experience Flights to ATC cadets.

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 ends at the age of 18, although a cadet over the age of 18 can continue service until the age of 20 if appointed as a Staff Cadet. As of 2nd September 2024 Cadets reaching the age of 18 can also transition to become a Cadet Forces Adult Volunteer (Adult staff member). However, cadets wishing to serve on the same Squadron must spend a minimum six months secondment period at a different Squadron.

As of 1 April 2023, the ATC strength is 34,070 cadets (30% female) and 9,190 adult volunteers (30% female).[10]

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.

  1. ^ "RAF timeline 1941". RAF.MoD.uk. Royal Air Force. 2015. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
  2. ^ "MOD sponsored cadet forces: 1 April 2024". GOV.UK. HM Government. 1 April 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  3. ^ "New Commandant Royal Air Force Air Cadets announced". Royal Air Force Air Cadets. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference HonoraryAmbassador was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Air Cadet Organisation: Annual Report 2006 (Report). RAF Cranwell: Air Cadet Organisation. 2006.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "Who we are". RAF.MoD.uk. Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Tutor T1 | Royal Air Force". Royal Air Force.
  9. ^ "Viking T1 | Royal Air Force". Royal Air Force.
  10. ^ "MOD sponsored cadet forces statistics: 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 23 September 2024.