Steven, as expected took control of the
proceedings but the small snaps also tell the story of a man at ease with his
self imposed task and with the computer and projector which did exactly what
they were supposed to do at the appropriate time !
Steven explained the structure of the International Air Cadet Exchange this years coming together being in Queensland, supported by the Government of Australia and the R.A.A.F
Cadets are nominated by their Squadron Commander and subsequently interviewed at Wing and Regional level, successful candidates are then allocated to an exchange country. In a similar fashion Officers apply to Wing and are then interviewed at Region and finally at Cranwell. Steven was the representative chosen for the U.K.
Steven and his group of Cadets met up at the airport before flying out to Singapore, where a six hour stop-
Hosted by the Queensland Air Cadets they had a week before meeting up with the rest of this years cadets from all over Australia as well as others coming from as far as the U.S.A. And Canada.
There was time on the airfields where they met up with the ‘Caribou’ an elderly and ugly plane as significantly suited to the wide variety of airfields in Australia as are the float planes so frequently seen in Canada. Of course there was time on the beach and Steven even managed a shift with the Brisbane Fire Brigade They spent time in the outback on the ranch visited not long ago by Prince Harry and marvelled at the distance between neighbours -
We all knew Steven from a previous visit on behalf of the Fire Service and enjoyed his talk which was very well illustrated by a large number of pictures. He also brought a video diary of the trip to bring an end to the proceedings. I think we all expected a lot and were not disappointed.
Fg. Off. Steven Cairns
R.A.F.R.(T)
2496 Cumbernauld Squadron AIR Training Corps
2496 Cumbernauld Squadron AIR Training Corps
