470 celebrates 80 years

Today we celebrate our 80th birthday, a fantastic achievement and one that deserves to be shouted from the rooftops, an amazing milestone for what has and continues to be one of the front runner squadrons in the Corps. 470 (Falkirk) Squadron officially stood up on the 21st February 1941 and has been going strong ever since. Originally raised during the second world war as a way of guiding young men into the RAF, the organisation has changed and developed into the uniformed youth organisation that we are today.

It’s a nice feeling to think of all the thousands of cadets and hundreds of staff we have had through the doors in 80 years. I like to think we have had a positive impact on each of their lives and they have all taken something useful away as a result of their time with us.

Times have not always been easy for us and today we are facing another unique challenge. When Coronavirus struck, we, like everyone else, had to stop doing what we were doing and everything moved on-line. This allowed us to keep in contact with everyone and continue to deliver some of our activities but it’s had a huge impact on us. Unfortunately, we are unable to celebrate our 80th birthday the way we had planned but we are all looking forward to the easing of restrictions so we can get back to some sort of normality, where we can open the doors to new cadets & staff and get back to flying, adventure training, shooting and all the other exciting activities we offer our cadets.”