Busy weekend. 12 cadets from 1368 managed to realize CI M's dream of doing more 1368 Sqn air show visits. Although a lot of the really fragile older planes couldn't fly still a unique experience and CI M made a new friend (Richie, a US airline pilot on layover with a similar passion for war birds, it seems). There was also the rare Messerschmitt Bf 109 flies with Spitfire thing and the excitement of an old tractor pulling an old plane. It doesn't get more exciting for an air cadet, than this. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/28/rare-messerschmitt-flies-spitfire-first-time-this-century/

We occasional miss the opportunity, but 2026 is turning out to the year of the cake. With Year 11 exams almost done, last week saw another cake creation battle as Sgt G reached the ripe old age of 16. FS R's sloppy RAF roundel was really tasty with a light sponge (no photo though/FS R jumped the gun). Cdt R's creation was an MTP-themed air cadet Chocolate cake with brown/green mini-poos being attacked by Spitfires. Bravo to both bakers. Both were very nice.

Social trip to Red Kangaroo in Coventry went off pretty well. 21 cadets, 5 staff helping. Good fun session and nice to see lots of GCSE-ers having fun together and newbies. Great idea from Cpl H.  1368 is apparently born to bounce (and whack each other using soft play things).

Amazing really. 2nd year running that we've had a 1368 Sqn Panto, re-written with cadet jokes and performed by cadets and NCOs. Last year it was Sgt Cinderella not being about to go air experience flying due to the evil Cadet Warrant Officers, that included Babcock team that tried desperately to get flying happening and a Chinook flight. This year was Sgt Aladdin, a love story about a camp relationship, involving a magic carpet and a lamp and Sqn Ldr genie. Brilliant effort by all, but particularly our outgoing CWO C and every present CI M for the writing. Brilliant cast that including roped in review cadets.  We were corralled a bit on dates due to lack of building, hence sorry not all got to see or perform. People would pay good money for this, but it did make a fantastic start to Christmas week. The imaginative solution to the magic carpet was amazing, plus pulling off a play in play (very Shakespearian). Well done team 1368. Happy Xmas.

Monday saw teams completing in a creative challenge of building festive Gingerbread trains. 0925 intake integrating well with main cohort adding icing to the cake. Some great creative thought, e.g., why build a train when you can build an F1 car? Winning team's melted snowman was a stand-out this year, which had a larger than normal snow dump. Well done. Well done also for the clean-up team.

Wednesday saw 31 cadets and 5 staff from 1368 Sqn at Planet Ice in Cov once again. Good mix of old and new. We coincidentally chose the same night as 29F again enabling a bit of inter-Sqn catch-up. Just about got the obligatory 1368 Sqn group photo on the ice, as we go into our cavalcade of festive nights leading up to Christmas. Doing the parade also helped in lieu of us still awaiting for building maintenance work (presumably by VIVO Defence subcontractor) to be started. Over 8 weeks and still waiting.

  Monday saw cadets from 1368 Squadron compete in a cake sale to raise money for the Warwickshire Search & Rescue ( https://warksar.org.uk/ ) to thank their volunteers for coming to our rescue on 22 Oct as we couldn't use cadet building. Here's some of the photos. Massively appreciate all the effort, ingredients, and kitchen time put in by cadets, staff & families on this. £133.96 raised for Warksar on the night. The competition was judged by Sgt M from 1289 Sqn taking into account both taste and visual creativity based on what their learnt on their visit. We certainly enjoyed eating them. Love the rivers, throw lines and the chocolate flake trees. The Star Baker will be announced at our annual Prize Giving.

Last weekend saw 1368 cadets attend a Sqn "end of summer" social at Vue Cinema to watch the F1 movie with Brad Pit. Sqn has lots of F1 fans and nice to see attendance from across the age ranges and return of some post GCSE faces.  Squadron has lots of cadets mad on F1 both the driver aspect but also the engineering aspect that ties in with STEM and Astra initiatives for the future RAF with science and technology at the fore. Great plot, somewhat mirroring the OC's return to the karting circuit last year.

38 cadets from 1368 Squadron descended on Planet Ice in Coventry for an end-of-year social night last Wednesday. The infamous 1368 Conga returned. Also a surprise chance to catch up with friends from 29F (Rugby) Squadron who had coincidentally chosen same night for their Christmas social. Higher than normal speeds achieved by Fg Off S. Good fun night. A chance for some to learn something new and for others to put on the latest batch of 1368 apparel we got in last week from Green Frog. 

Well done to all the cadets and NCOs who participated in Monday's end of year fun night at Sqn. CI M/NCO Panto plot: Flight Sgt Cinderella not able to go to AEF because of the nasty (and very ugly) CWOs, finally gets to go thanks to the magic of the friendly Sqn Ldr, but leaves her parade shoe behind. Really impressed with acting, esp. the Chinook crew's northern accents and Flight Sgt R's method acting. All action night featuring the legendary Egg, Sausage Chips and Beans and a lot of dancing. Oh, and cake/chocolate. Cinderella also got locked in the staff toilet because the handle had come off, a new twist on the plot. Great fun night to cap off a great year. 48 cadets attending. 

Last Wednesday saw cadets from 1368 Sqn undertake the team challenge of building and decorating the best Gingerbread train, (while the Cadet NCOs are out of picture writing and learning their upcoming NCO-Panto performance). Some amazing attention to detail and creativity by the winning team. Also great planning and execution.

Tuesday 19 Nov saw an evening trip to Redpoint Climbing Centre in Birmingham, a much loved venue by 1368 Sqn cadets due to the friendliness of their staff, ease of booking, and their love of climbing. A great night was had with a balance of ages from 12-19 year old including our newbies getting involved. Great mix of bouldering and climbing with ropes including belaying practice. Adventure training is one of the pillars of 1368's training programme. As well as allowing people to develop outside of their comfort zone, the shared experiences help to gel friendships which is really what the cadet experience is really about.  

30 Oct saw cadets from 1368 coming up with some amazing inventive takes on Halloween fancy dress and yes, at times staff were scared. Nice to do something completely different after a few weeks of intensive band, banner and music prep for Wing Competition. Domino's Pizza was consumed to celebrate our 3rd place at WFD 24 despite music events not counting. There was a period there was a 1 remaining veggie pizza untouched but eventually they went for it.

1368 Sqn ran another karting session for cadets on Fri 13 Sep 2024. We've done this for a few years now and it's amazing to see the progression from earlier years. Cadets timing boards: Cdt H pipped Cdt B at the end with Cdt W (Ferrari man) third. CWO C's time doesn't count as he was a works driver. Session a mirroring of F1, Ferrari surprisingly 3rd and a solid Kimi Antonelli reconstruction of how a driver can change the circuit layout. 1368 has quite a group of cadets who enthusiastically follow F1 which aligns quite nicely with interest in STEM subjects and the RAF's ASTRA initiative. We just need to work out a way to get a visit to an F1 team to see their aerodynamics and simulator engineering department!