RAF COLLEGE CRANWELL 1970

A look at officer training at RAF Cranwell,including sequences of Jet Provosts.#aviation #militaryaviation #planespotting #airforce #airport #royalairforceuk #coldwar #jets

[@mjc8281]

My father was at Cranwell in the early 60s and my favorite story about his Drill Warrant Officer was when they first paraded in front of him he said "I will call you all Sir you in turn will call me Sir, the difference being you will all mean it"

[@Mike-ws7cz]

Good to see Flt Sgt Pike opening this video. He was still at Cranwell in 1974 when I was on 18GE. Things had changed a bit since 1970 and we did not wander around all day in No1s.

[@joluqamalta2815]

Thanks for your comment!

[@allandavis8201]

Served at Cranwell for my first posting after training, was a great place to start my career in the RAF, not the best posting I had but certainly one of the best.

[@richardevans2954]

Awfully polite in those days 😊

[@jjsmallpiece9234]

Reaction of a supply officer - tech request for a new fuel pump....'You want it when......3 weeks on Tuesday at the earliest.

[@spatialpro]

Question: Where did other branches of the RAF undergo officer training please, whether graduates or not? Air Traffic Control, Fighter Control, Marine, Regiment and Photographic Interpretation (PI) spring to mind.

[@fox3wheresmybanana386]

I was a baby pilot at Cranwell in the 1980s. All Officers went through Initial Officer Training at two locations, Cranwell and Henlow, in the 1970s, but just Cranwell in the 1980s. My flight of 10 officer cadets consisted of three pilot branch, one fighter control, one air electronics, one engineer, one police, one supply, and two admin sec. Two were female - the RAF was fully integrated for officer training by then, and we shared accommodation, unlike the other services at that time. The pilots went on to three basic jet training bases (one being Cranwell), the engineers were also at Cranwell, the rest went elsewhere. The officer training was identical for all branches, but aircrew and fighter control, being General Duties, were expected to show higher standards of leadership. Aircrew, Police, RAF Regiment and Physical Education were of course also expected to show higher standards of fitness. Notable differences from the other services were that there was no 'beasting' for the sake of it. If one's Flight was not yet proficient at something, then 5am starts for extra practice might be needed. However, as soon as the Flight was proficient, the training immediately moved on to something else.....at which one also might need 5am practice ;) And the Drill Instructors never swore - they were always perfectly polite, but never wrong ;) The course was 16 weeks in those days. It is now 24 weeks, and they achieve no more and to lower standards. I guess they get more sleep. Courses were generally either graduate or non-graduate by their start times. The courses starting in July-October were usually graduate. However, all courses included some Enlisted personnel going for Officer, and we had one one 37-year-old on my course. It was a good plan; we youngsters helped with the carrying pine poles, and the oldsters told us what to expect and how to get through it.

[@simongee8928]

I occasionally go past Cranwell whilst heading north. In 25 years, I've yet to see any aircraft outside the hangars. The place appears abandoned and lifeless.

[@joluqamalta2815]

Thanks for your comment!

[@bilko529]

A fine bunch of rodneys and ruperts.

[@MrDastardly]

At the time this film was made, were ‘non-white’ people accepted for pilot training? In 2024, are there any pilots of colour, in the RAF?

[@kafka8886]

Lol. There's always one. (Dickhead in the comments, that is.)

[@allandavis8201]

I was in the RAF from 1979-2003 and I can say that I did not know very many Coloured Aircrew/pilots of colour, there were some but just not where I served, however, within the ground trades I worked with a lot of coloured personnel. I can obviously tell that you are looking at this video and have decided that there was institutional racism in the RAF, but it is not that way at all, the reason for there being lesser coloured personnel is that, at the time and even today, less coloured people applied to serve, maybe because they did not want to join the RAF or maybe it was because there were less coloured people in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 at the time, but that doesn’t apply anymore and the numbers of people of colour applying is still low, perhaps they felt/feel that there is some institutional racism but they are wrong, individual personnel might be racist but not the service, the colour of a persons skin doesn’t matter it is whether they can do the job that they have applied to do that counts.

[@TheBoss0405]

@@allandavis8201 I served as ground crew between 1988-1996 and you’re completely right. I think it was more of a cultural thing than anything else. Possibly in the same way you didn’t see many kids from a council estate becoming pilots.

[@leeparry1450]

why is that of any importance?

[@allandavis8201]

@@leeparry1450 , in all honesty I don’t know, but it seems that “inclusivity” is more important to some people than whether or not they can do the job, and it doesn’t matter when a historical film, event or anything happens they want to bring in all the “woke” rubbish and ideas that don’t have any relevance to the actual story etc etc etc.