On Monday the 11 th of April 13 Cadets from 163 (Coventry Phoenix) Sqn set off bright and early in order to travel to RAF Lyneham where a day of activities had been planned. The trip was the result of a letter sent by Cpl Lammas and Cpl Hughes asking whether it would be possible for the squadron to get a flight in a C-130 Hercules. The sqn was contacted by 24 SQN RAF who said that it may not be possible for the squadron to fly due to commitments in Afganistan and Libiya, however they would be happy to host the squadron for a station visit.

On arriving at Lyneham the cadets were met by Sgt Slayter of 24 Sqn who gave a welcome brief informing the cadets about the role of the station and the Hercules.

The first section visit of the day was to the RAF Police dogs where the cadets were shown around the kennels and then given a demonstration of one of the explosives search dogs at work.

Cadets were then taken to the C-130J operational conversion unit. This is where crews learn to operate the updated model of the Hercules which entered RAF service in 1999. Cadets where shown the differences between the new model and the original model the C-130K which entered service in the 1960s. The opportunity was then given for cadets to visit the ‘rear cabin trainer' which is a perfect replica of the C-130J cargo area.

After Lunch the cadets were then given the chance to have a look around a real aircraft . Cadets were shown around the flight deck as well as the rear cargo area and the outside of the aircraft.

Next stop was the SERE section, this stands for Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract. This is where aircrew learn how to survive in a hostile environment in the event that they are forced to bail out of their aircraft. Cadets were shown mock ups of various hostile environments and were talked though the key survival factors of each scenario.

The final visit of the day was to air traffic control. The cadets and staff were shown round both the visual control tower and radar control. However unbeknown to the squadron there was a surprise instore! After the visit the cadets where shown on the roof of the air traffic control building where they had an excellent view of an RAF Chinook who did a low pass and hover especially for 163 sqn! It later transpired that the aircraft had been passing and one of the air traffic controllers asked him if he would mind doing a pass for the cadets, the pilot was happy to oblige!

This was a very enjoyable day and allowed cadets to gain an insight into various roles within the Royal Air Force. The squadron would like to thank the OC of 24 Squadron for allowing the visit as well as Sgt Slayer for arranging the trip and also the all staff within the sections visited for giving up their time.