Half of Air Cadet glider squadrons scrapped in attempt to save ‘peanuts’
THOUSANDS of Air Cadets will find it more difficult to gain flying experience after a “short-sighted” decision to disband more than half of their volunteer glider squadrons, it is claimed.
Many of Britain’s next generation of pilots will have to travel hours to get their first taste of flying because the Ministry of Defence is trying to save “peanuts”, critics say.
The cuts are likely to cause a fall in young recruits signing up for an organisation that is often a springboard for those wanting to join the RAF and aerospace industry, air leaders warn.
A total of 14 out of 26 volunteer glider squadrons are being disbanded in an overhaul of cadet flying designed to get the organisation’s aircraft airborne again after gliders were grounded in 2014 over safety fears.
The RAF denies cadets will have fewer chances to fly, or the changes are simply cost-cutting, and says it will buy more powered training planes. The surviving glider squadrons will be enlarged and have new rooms for cadets to stay overnight and more simulators.
But glider volunteers warn it will be impossible to give cadets the same amount of flying under changes which will see the fleet fall from 146 to 88.
Andrew Brookes, chief executive of the Air League, a lobby group for British aviation, said the cuts were “shortsighted, just to save peanuts”.
He said: “It’s an air training corps, not a ground training corps and to that extent you have to get people airborne. If you take a lot of that away, you undermine the whole point.”
There are around 40,000 Air Cadets and a third of RAF officers and nearly a fifth of airmen have passed through their ranks, including Sir Stuart Peach, the Chief of the Defence Staff, and Sir Stephen Hillier, Chief of the Air Staff.
Many cadets go on to join the civilian flying industry or have careers in engineering or science.
Sir Gerald Howarth MP, a former de- fence minister, said Britain had to maximise the opportunity for young people to savour flying if it wanted to remain at the forefront of aviation. His local cadet group in Aldershot is to lose its nearest volunteer glider squadron at RAF Odiham. He said: “We have the best pilots in the world, but it’s the ability to fly that sets them apart. The RAF needs to be able to continue to draw on the widest possible pool.”
However, Julian Brazier, the reserves minister, said the fleet had been neglected for 15 years. An audit of the gliders had found it was not possible to get all 146 airborne again. He said the plan would see the number of powered Grob Tutor planes rise from 45 to 70.
He said: “The recently announced reorganisation of Air Cadet aviation will offer gliding again across the UK, alongside a substantial uplift in powered air experience flights and simulators. I am hugely grateful to all those in the Air Cadet organisation for their continued commitment and patience on this matter.”