Former cadet of 2030 (Elmdon & Yardley) Sqn and George Cross hero, Marine Matthew Croucher, came to the squadron HQ to talk to the cadets about his recent experience during a flight with the Red Arrows.

Representing 'Help for Heroes', Matthew got a back seat ride in Red 3 and flew in formation with the famous Red Arrows. All of this possible due to the Managing Director at HESCO Bastion who bought all 9 back seats for approximately £1.5 million in an auction for 'Help for Heroes'.

HESCO Bastion develop and manufacture Concertainer units for the purposes of force protection, flood protection and erosion control. Concertainer units have become the most popular means within the military of protecting personnel and facilities against secondary fragmentation, saving countless lives and mission critical assets.

With the work that Matthew does for Help for Heroes, HESCO Bastion thought it would be only right to give the 9th seat to him, the rest being filled with ecstatic employees from HESCO's factory in Leeds .

He explained to the cadets how his day went from the time he arrived at RAF Scampton. He met the CO of the Red Arrows and went into several briefings about the ejector seat, flight plan, safety, kit fitting etc. Then at 11:45 he was strapped into Red 3 where he was introduced to the pilot 'Monty'. Then after pre flight checks it was take off at 12:15 .

The flight experience was explained as being an experience off life time flying in formation with 8 other Red Arrows, doing 3 loop the loops, barrel rolls and feeling the force of 4 1/2 G. The best part came when Matt got to take control of Red 3 and banked the aircraft to its left in formation.

Overall Matt explained the experience as "awesome." The cadets and staff of 2030 Sqn were very thankful to for Matt explaining his experience and showing us his photo's.