The History of Easingwold Air Cadets - Central & East Yorkshire ...

Wing Commander Proctor presents fourteen
year old Charles Bland with his Record of
Service Book at the opening ceremony.
to parading one night per week due
to other usage of the hall. All classes
took place in separate corners of the
one large room and all training aids,
uniform and other equipment had to
be removed from the building at the
end of each parade night. Despite
this a vigorous training programme
was embarked upon with a full and
varied outdoor programme of flying,
gliding, shooting, adventure training
and visits to RAF stations at
weekends. Thanks to this and the
high caliber of the young people,
excellent results soon began to
show, with Cadets Earp. Willis and
Sampson being marked for early
promotion. (Derek Earp went on to
join the Royal Air Force and served
with distinction as a Nimrod pilot).
By 25th January 1967 the Flight was
announcing that fifteen of the original
seventeen cadets had a 100%
attendance since formation and that
all seventeen had achieved their first
class badges. On Tuesday 16th May
1967, a further parents evening was
held and Cadets William Bramma,
Brian Kitchman, Richard Laverick
and Geoffrey Shirley were enrolled.
In outlining the detached flight’s first
few months, Flight Lieutenant
Harrison stated that Cadet Sampson
had been awarded his glider pilot
wings, Cadet Willis was currently on
a course and Cadet Medd was to
start his course the following
weekend. Sampson was the Flight’s
first Non Commissioned Officer
when he was promoted Corporal that
evening. Cadet Earp had been
nominated for a camp in Germany
and Cadets Sampson, Willis and
McFarlane had volunteered for the
Nijmegen March in Holland in July.
Cadets John Gilling, Peter Hattersley and David
Tongue prepare breakfast at Rievaulx Abbey –
Whitsun 1967. The camp was attended by
fourteen cadets from Thirsk and Easingwold.
Annual camp in 1967 was at Royal
Air Force Kinloss on the Moray Firth.
Sixteen cadets from Easingwold
attended as did Flight Lieutenant
Harrison and three Thirsk cadets.
This was an excellent camp with the
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