CCF Visit to RAF Coningsby
CCF RAF students from Years 9, 10 and 12 spend a full day at RAF Coningsby on Monday, organised by one of the School’s parents, Mr Winchester, who was stationed there as a flying instructor. Cadets visited the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, looked around a Typhoon jet and ‘flew’ on the simulator. Year 10’s Ishan shares his thoughts from the day.
Year 10’s Ishan
On Monday 3 March, ten cadets from the RAF section were given the once in a lifetime opportunity to have a very detailed tour of RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
Upon arrival we were escorted around the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) hanger, which was filled with old fighters including, Hurricanes, Spitfires and my personal favourite – The Lancaster Bomber. The tour guide was amazing, giving us access beyond what you would get as a museum visitor. My favourite thing about this hangar was a Spitfire that was painted as a memorial for Sqd Ldr Mark Long.
After we visited the BBMF hangar we were then joined by Fighter Pilot called Phil McQuade who already that morning had flown to Wales for some low level flying through Snowdonia and then some touch and goes at RAF Valley. He took us to the 29 Squadron hangar where we saw Flt Lt David ‘Turbo’ Turnball who was last year’s display pilot, ahead of a tour of the hangar, it was incredible to see all the jets parked up! Our guide showed us around and told us about the different parts of the jet including the pylons for the A/A missiles and A/G bombs/missiles, the external fuel tanks which were much bigger than I previously thought and the coolest part of the jet tour was where the flares and chaffs came out from and the engines themselves.
After that, we were all given the once in a lifetime opportunity to sit in the jet which I didn’t think twice about, even the teachers got involved! Being in the cockpit was surreal, its much bigger than it looks and there aren’t many buttons to memorise which is very handy.
The next activity we had was the chance to have a go on the flight simulator, but not before being taken to where pilots were kitted up for their missions. We saw and learned lots about the pilot’s helmet from our guide; there was a day helmet and a night helmet which had the ability to put night vision goggles on. We also saw a G-suit which forces the blood up to the head to stay conscious. While we waited for the flight simulator we went to the crew room where we were able to get refreshments and food. The crazy thing was that everyone who walked in there was a pilot!!
The flight simulator was housed in a massive building for training pilots, we learned that most pilots in 29 squadron have a 70/30 spilt between simulator and flying. Following a thorough brief, we went into the simulator room – I was amazed! The throttle and flight stick were exactly the same as the one in the cockpit. We were ‘loaded up’ at Coningsby and told where we had to go and what our mission was – we had to fly under a bridge inverted, something I partly achieved; I managed to go under the bridge but I tried to roll out and I crashed!
This was most definitely one of the best trips I have been on, and we are all so very grateful to Mr Rob Winchester for organising the visit.
