The Royal Air Squadron Trophy Competition, also known as the National Ground Training Competition, was created as a way for

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

sections of the

Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, sub divided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to ...

to contest the Air Squadron Trophy. The trophy has been competed for since 1985, when it was awarded to the "year's outstanding CCF(RAF) Section". Starting in 1998, the winner of the National Ground Training Competition would be awarded the trophy, marking the beginning of the modern format of the competition. The trophy had originally been presented by the

Royal Air Squadron Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

as part of the British Aerobatic Association's annual competition, first contested in 1967. The names of some of the inaugural winners are still engraved on the trophy.

RAF Air Command Air Command is the only Command currently active in the Royal Air Force. It was formed by the merger of Royal Air Force Strike and Personnel and Training commands on 1 April 2007, and has its headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshi ...

and the

Royal Air Force Air Cadets The Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) is the combined volunteer-military youth organisation sponsored by the Royal Air Force, which is formed by both the Air Training Corps and RAF Sections of the Combined Cadet Force. The organisation is head ...

have recognised the annual competition provides "substantial external profile and value", particularly for the competitive spirit, camaraderie, and experience the competition generates amongst cadets.

Competition structure

Any CCF(RAF) section that can field a full team of 13 cadets, ideally drawn from a wide range of age groups, is able to take part in the competition. The Training, Evaluation & Support Teams (TEST) Officers & SNCOs, who act as a training and support liaison between

CCF CCF can refer to: Computing * Confidential Consortium Framework, a free and open-source blockchain infrastructure framework developed by Microsoft * Customer Care Framework, a Microsoft product Finance * Credit conversion factor converts the ...

contingents and the wider RAF, tailor the "composition and conduct" of the six regional competitions to the local needs of their area, held in Autumn or Spring. The first, second, and third placed teams from each of the six regions qualify for the national finals, held at

RAF Cosford Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford (formerly DCAE Cosford) is a Royal Air Force station near to the village of Cosford, Shropshire, England just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton. It is a training station, home to ...

in Spring each year. The competition involves a round robin of activities that include: *Space (13 Cadets) *Drill and Uniform (13 Cadets) *Command Task (13 Cadets) *Shooting (4 Cadets) *Cyber (5 Cadets) *First Aid (4 Cadets) More than 230 cadets from 18 different CCF sections took part in the national finals in 2016, after the number of teams qualifying for the national round was increased from two to three per region for the first time. Individual event winners at the national finals, such as in Drill or First aid, are usually invited and given direct entry to the national competition of that discipline within the

or the wider UK Military Cadet Forces in the following year. In 2025, changes were made to the activities on offer, modernising them inline with the RAFAC Astra campaign. Activities such as the RAF Knowledge quiz and Aircraft Recognition activity were replaced and renamed to Space and Cyber respectively.

Requirements for entry

Each team has 13 cadets: one team captain at a rank of

Cadet Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

or above, and 12 other cadets. The team should represent a "wide cross-section" of age groups from their RAF Section. The Team Captain manages the team and delivers orders in the

Drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a drill bit for making holes, or a screwdriver bit for securing fasteners. Historically, they were powered by hand, and later mains power, but cordless b ...

competition. An RAFAC Officer should accompany the teams to the competition.

Royal Air Squadron Day

The first, second and third place teams are invited to attend the Royal Air Squadron Day which is usually held in June or July each year at the

Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aviation, automotive and agricultural collection located at Old Warden Aerodrome in Bedfordshire, England. History The collection was founded in 1928 by aviator Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth. While ...

, a working aviation, automotive, and agricultural collection at the

Old Warden Aerodrome Old Warden Aerodrome is located east southeast of Bedford, in Bedfordshire, England. The privately owned aerodrome serves The Shuttleworth Collection, which contains a large working collection of vintage aircraft, cars, motor cycles and agricu ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. During the day cadets are offered flights in aircraft belonging to the

members. Past aircraft have included Tiger Moths, Dragon Rapides,

YAKs The yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, hairy cattle, or domestic yak, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region, the Tibetan Plateau, Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains ...

, Cessnas, and

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

. The cadets also attend a formal parade, where the Captains of the three teams receive the Geoffrey de Havilland Flying Foundation Medals for CCF Achievement along with the presentation of The Air Squadron Trophy to the first placed team. The Sir John Thomson Memorial Sword is also presented on the day to the best overall cadet in the CCF(RAF), along with Flying Foundation Medals to the six finalists of the interview process.

Results

References

{{Reflist

External links