Royal Air Force Air Cadets

Royal Air Force Air Cadets
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
Type Volunteer Military Youth Organisation
Headquarters RAF Cranwell
Patron Queen Elizabeth II
Commanders
Honorary Air Commodore-in-Chief HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Commandant Air Cadets Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty

The Royal Air Force Air Cadets, officially known as the Air Cadet Organisation (ACO), is the youth organisation sponsored by the Royal Air Force that manages both the Air Training Corps and RAF contingents of the Combined Cadet Force.[1] The organisation is headed by a serving RAF officer, the Commandant Air Cadets. The current commandant is Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty. As of 1 April 2014, the ACO has a strength of 53,360 cadets and cadet force adult volunteers.[2]

Units

The ACO is made up of:

Parade nights

Cadets normally meet once or twice a week; these are called parade nights. Each squadron/detached flight/CCF unit parade on different nights. They have a building for meetings and some squadrons or detached flights are based on active RAF bases. Activities range widely, from shooting to drill.

See also

References

  1. Air Cadets - Who We Are, raf.mod.uk, Accessed 7 December 2014
  2. gov.uk MoD - reserves and cadet strengths, table 8a and 8b, page 17-18. April 2014.
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