How I learned to fly, RAF-style

Any pilot will tell you that the process of learning never stops. For many an air force recruit, those days began at the RAF College Cranwell, just as they did in the 1950s for this then-new trainee, taking him right the way through from Tiger Moth to Vampire

What subtle means of persuasion the RAF had in those far-off days to seduce young men into the world of aviation. For this impressionable lad, the Air Training Corps was the first step, with his first experience of leaving mother earth in the back of a Tiger Moth on a magical September evening, regularly topped over the years by air experience flights. But how to encourage us further? Offer us a flying scholarship with 30 free hours on Tiger Moths at Sywell, ending up with a private pilot’s licence, but with no possible funds to maintain it. Can you follow the plot so far? Now, lad, if you want to continue flying for free, why not consider a career in the RAF where you’ll not only do that, but be paid as well?

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