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WWO Gary Tonks of Devon & Somerset Wing has been appointed as the Regional Warrant Officer due to an upgrade of the position of Regional Drill Co-ordinator.
WO Tonks was originally a cadet of 479 (Longbridge) Sqn in Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing before moving to Somerset and South Avon Wing and joining 1032 (Yeovil) Sqn 1985. Whilst as the SWO at 1032 Sqn WO Tonks completed the Drill Instructor course at RAF Newton and became a member of the SWATT serving with them for over ten years. Seeing the benefit of tri service co-operation WO Tonks forged good relations with neighbouring ACF and SCC units. This paid dividends with the some ATC Sqns combining to supply the enemy for a number of ACF battle camps. In 1994 WO Tonks was requested by No 9 Group Royal Observer Corps to train them for their participation in the Festival of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in London.
In 1997 he was appointed as the first WWO of Somerset and Avon Wing; this was followed in 1999 with the appointment as WWO for the newly amalgamated Wing of Devon & Somerset.
In 2000 he was selected as the SWO for the CCF contingent at AC2K which was held at RAF Cranwell. Since being appointed as WWO WO Tonks has been fully active in both cadet and staff training. He has implemented many new ideas, some eventually being adopted as policy at Corps level. In 2004 he was appointed as Regional Drill Co-ordinator (SW), since then has worked with other WWO’s at both Regional and National level to raise the standard of drill in the Corps and formalise the role of WWO within the Corps structure. Recently WO Tonks as been part of the team that runs the National drill championships at RAF Halton.
WO Tonks is married with two children, his wife Jane is the SWO with 2381 (Ilminster) Sqn in Somerset. With what little free time he has he is an accomplished cartoonist with some of his works on display at ATF. His ATC Christmas cards are fast becoming collectors items with their arrival early anticipated each year.
Wing Commander Brian Wills-Pope MBE RAFVR(T) presenting Cadet Flight Sergeant Tom Hamilton of 1064 (Honiton) Squadron with his Air Cadet Pilot Scheme Certificate - in recognition of his Flying Training course flown at Dundee Airport during August 2006.
Tom joined the Air Training Corps in April 2004 and has flown in both fully aerobatic light aircraft as well as powered gliders. The Pilot scholarship scheme is hotly contested and Tom was the only Cadet from the Devon & Somerset Wing to be awarded the prize.
We arrived at RAF Kirton-on-Lindsey (satellite station to RAF Scampton) where we were staying on Saturday 4th August. When we settled in and unpacked we had our health and safety brief and the briefing for the rest of the day. After dinner we did a fam ex to get familiarised with Kirton-on-Lindsey.
We were split into two groups spitfire and hurricane as they were the main aircrafts which were based at RAF Scampton, so that meant that we had group competitions. We learnt that RAF Scampton is a very historic base as it was where the Dam Busters were based in World War 2.
On Sunday we did dry weapons training with the L-98, some of the cadets even passed their WHTs, in the evenings we did drill which would go to the drill comp at the end of the week.
On Monday we went to RAF Scampton and got to sit in a briefing by the station commander very interesting, we then went to the CRC (control and reporting centre) which was where the Dam Busters were briefed by Guy Gibson during the war and it is still exactly the same as it is in the movie. In the CRC we learnt about a lot of hidden roles such as fighter controller. In the evening we watched the Dam Busters the movie lots of interesting facts. And had our camp photo.
On Tuesday we went shooting at the range for those lucky one's who passed their WHT's; for those who didn't or were too young they were given a chance to learn more about the L-98. We did more drill in the evening ( everything started to get competitive between flights ).
On Wednesday morning we went swimming at RAF Waddington where the cadets passed their basic and advance swimming tests. After swimming we went into the city of Lincoln where we were able to go shopping then we went bowling.
On Thursday we went to the BBMF (Battle of Britain memorial flight) where we learnt that the UK have one of only two Lancaster's that fly in the world the other being in Canada. After BBMF we went to RAF Connigsby and had a tour of the Typhoons and how they are put together and taken apart. After that we went to East Kirkby museum where we learnt more about the Dam Busters.
On Friday, as it was the last day, we went shooting at the SAT range, had a tour of the ATC tower and the fire section. After this we had our own display from the Red Arrows as they’re based at RAF Scampton it was a spectacular display as always.
In the evening we did our drill competition which Hurricane won. After the drill comp we had a SODS operas, paper plate awards from the SNCOs and certificates for the best flight which was won by Spitfire. Cpl Anna Hart 200(Torquay) Sqn
On Saturday we cleaned up and left RAF Scampton at 10:00am for the return journey.
All of the cadets said they enjoyed camp and for some of them it was their first experience of being away from home without parents so well done to those cadets and I hope to see you at more camps.
Cpl Anna Hart
200(torquay) Sqn
I, like many others, couldn’t wait to go back on summer camp this year, especially the biggest military base in the UK. The most interesting part for me is getting on the coach and as you go along the pick up points seeing who is going to be on camp with you, and this year, it looked great!
When we arrived it was nice to see that the campsite wasn’t flooded, which managed to stop the guys going on week 4. Then, with all briefings out of the way, it was off for our first meal at the JRM, the food there was delicious!!!
The first day involved shooting at the range, lots of training, and lots of rounds being fired, yay!! It was always worrying supervising the cadets that had never fired the L98 before, but no major catastrophes!! That evening we all braved the high ropes course; it was brilliant fun, even the people who were really scared did a fantastic job!
During the rest of the week we visited the fire station to play around with the trucks, visited all the squadrons they had there, including 99sqn with the C-17s, 101 with the VC10’s and 216 with the TriStars, we also visited the air movements squadron. Quite probably the best visit though, was the one to the Survival Equipment Section. We even managed to fit 38 cadets in a 26 person life raft! I hope never to eat survival food ever again though.
We also had a night exercise at Little Rissington airfield, which proved to be somewhat…interesting. Lets just say that the officers acting as refugees and the Peoples Army of Restonia were quite annoying, especially with the Russian accents, and the odd first aid situations. However, it all went well in the end!
Of course we all managed to go flying or gliding in the week too, I went gliding at Little Rissington, whilst others made their way to RAF Benson for Flying. A few of us managed to get up to 3 flights in the vigilant, which was fantastic!
Now, I’m bound to have forgotten to put a few things in here, and I apologise about that, it’ll all come back to me later! I’d just like to say thank you to everyone on week 6, I had a brilliant time, and I hope you all did too.
Cpl Matt Hughes
1322 (Newton Abbot) Sqn
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