Yep. Was in the ETPS Hawk when they had one…which technically is a third party flying organisation 
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That’s the one!
Oh the irony - arranging an AEF in a non-RAF aircraft…!
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Someone will be along to correct me but i want to say it was 2018 (RAF100) when there was Cadets in the rear seats of the Red Arrows arriving at RIAT that year…
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Nope. Was RAFCAM… i might have known the groundcrew…
Welcome to South West Wales. Apart from 1 AEF which is great and 634AGS which does its best with limited resources the RAF has moved out of Wales.
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And as more evidence as to why we shouldn’t be dictated to by the RAF anymore; some of it’s ‘leaders’ display traits online that I wouldn’t expect from 13 yo cadets…
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1AEF are a superb bunch, and fair play to them within the limits that they must work with, unserviceability and other issues, they try and get every Cadet in South Wales airborne. While South East Wales isn’t in quite a bad situation, I cannot imagine how much strain is put on 1AEF, as they have to cater for the UAS Sqns that choose to fly there too (I’m assuming some do)
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Getting back to the topic, the short answer is: “Yes, it has.”
The longer answer is that if the Air Cadets had not been in continuous existence since 1938, nobody would think of or be able to create it now. Such an organisation only makes sense if the RAF is itself a large service capable of sustained large scale offensive operations, which like its sister services, it has not been since the early 1990s. In WWII and the Cold War, the RAF both needed large numbers of air-minded recruits, and could support their training.
The current RAFAC is stuck in a rut: the MoD should really get rid of us as a waste of the time, money and resources available to our cash-strapped and ineffectual Armed Forces. They wouldn’t have the bottle to go against the negative public opinion such a move would generate, although that would only be a short-term unpopular decision they would have to deal with.
However, the RAFAC is incapable of radical improvement or change to make itself relevant in today’s world. This inability is first and foremost caused by its top down undemocratic structure: what influence can any of us here have upon what changes or improvements we’d like to have happen? Were this forum an official RAFAC initiative and actually read or partaken in by our senior management, we might have an effect.
But then the United Kingdom is an undemocratic country: our Upper House is unelected, and a vote for anyone else other than the ‘Old Gang’ of Labour or Tories is usually the equivalent to spoiling one’s ballot paper, due to lack of any form of Proportional representation. Why should any other British institution be any more democratic, and take note of what its members say, think or want?
The RAFAC isn’t the only charitable organisation in the UK which takes its supporters time and money, and gives them no say in how those resources are spent. At least we can vote with our feet, which a few thousand CFAV have done in the last few years, apparently. 
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Er, cold weather trg…? 
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could Sidewinder lifting not be qualified as “PT?”
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