ATC in fictional media

I know Hot Fuzz has a scene with a few air cadets in the background, but are there any other films/ shows where the RAFAC make an appearance?

There’s an reference to the air cadets in the comedy radio show Cabin Pressure which is about a private charter air line in the episode ā€œVaduzā€

There is a very old B&W film from 1955 by the Childrens Film Foundation called ā€˜The Stolen Airliner’ that was about 3 Air Cadets. I can’t find the full movie, but there is a clip here: ā€œThe Stolen Airlinerā€ (1955). Vickers Viscount 724 | CF-TGT | CF-TGO | Bournemouth Airport (BOH) - YouTube

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Just thrown the question into chatGPT.

Apparently the character ā€œNeilā€ in the inbetweeners was/is in the air cadets & it’s referenced in the show.

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Did it provide a source for it? In all honesty, he doesn’t seem like someone who’d be in any cadet force.

Not spent a lot of time with the ACF then…?

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There isn’t really an air cadet archetype which is a good thing.

I think they miss a trick with a lot of shows set in schools in not doing a cadet group for the added drama opportunity but I suspect not many actors or writers did cadets unless it was compulsory CCF.

Speaking of ACF - Dr Who tried to include them.

First at remembrance memorial scene in I think the family blood along with modern day army cadets forming the parade with OTC/JTC as part of the plot set in the 1910s.

A later episode tried to do it in a poor way in the capaldi way. I think it’s just cheaper for tv shows to have cadets do drill & crawl through mud then go flying.

Most school dramas are set in public schools, and the CCF are seen more in private/ very posh schools irl, so it’d look a bit random.

A comedy or drama centred around a cadet unit would pretty interesting though!

that sounds fictional!!

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True although due CEP it is increasing the number of cadet units in state schools*, the majority are still in public & independent schools.

The doctor who episode was set in a state comprehensive/ academy so there’s at least that (but it was done terribly so obviously an idea thrown in without research)

*Terminology footnote

In the UK government funded schools are typically referred to as ā€œStateā€ schools I.e. provided by the local authority

Public schools are old fee-paying schools not under government control. They are also referred to independent or private schools but are slightly different.

They were called ā€œpublicā€ schools as the attendance was open to anyone rather than the specific local authority area or a specific trade (all schools at the time charged a fee). Public schools are/were traditionally non-profit as opposed to private schools which are for profit, or church schools for a particular faith. :slightly_smiling_face:

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They should get a CCF into Grange Hill when it returns - Get Flt Lt Tucker Jenkins as the Contingent Commander and Zammo and Roland as SSIs.

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I know it is CCF (Army) but ā€˜If…’ (the 1968 one with Malcolm McDowell, not the recent one with the big cute purple monster) features the LMG being put to good use.

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Surely Mr Ronson would be the SSI? Ex para RSM & ASM treating Grange Hill like it’s Sandhurst.

Thing is is that public schools along with oxbridge have such anarchic traditions & ways of working is that you greater leeway for comedy chaos than you do in state schools (Tom sharpe was a master for making use of this in his novels).

ā€œHeadmaster the golf society that uses the school grounds for its course is complaining that last Friday the CCF were running section battle attacks across the course using the bunkers as staging posts before going ā€œover the topā€ & across the green.

This was in the middle of the inter-schools annual old boys competition causing considerably disruption & an inadvertently ejected empty case on the green caused the ball of one of the players to bounce the wrong way allowing the old chepstonions to beat the old kimboltonions by one stroke.

Also the Bursar has had the ground staff on the phone as the use of what appears to have been a thunder flash has left the cup on the 7th hole considerably wider than the regulation 3inches & he wants to know which budget to use for the repairsā€

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preach

do you not get enough drama through the week anyway? I feel like a CFAV waqtching that would be like a Vietnam Vet watching Full Metal Jacket

The number of cops who watch detective shows is unreal.

My, it’d give the average staff member shell shock :rofl:. Especially considering how bad certain cadet drama can get.

A comedy would probably a lot more better. Plus, comedies are always more accurate than drama.

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I can’t wait for the scene where there’s a cadet in the office crying because Thompson called Garland’s cat ugly, followed by Smith had an argument with a sea cadet at school because the puddle pirate went flying at the weekend.

Series finale is a phone call from the WExO announcing the unit is closed because the fire extinguishers are out of date.

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Grange Hill…??

How come no one has mentioned Biker Grove yet and seeing ā€œGeoffā€ as a ā€œold Schoolā€ style WO

Lets not forget the camp episode, where a rivalry occurs between two sqn’s because one of them said the other unit has a better logo.

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