History of the AAFC
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[edit] Brief History of the AAFC
The Air Training Corps was formed in Australia on the 11th June 1941, for two main reasons:
- To provide for the general education of young men between the ages of 16 and 18 years of age who desired to eventually join the RAAF, and thereby to assist the RAAF in its war effort, and
- To enable young men who were air-minded to accustom themselves to the practices of the Air Force and to the studies for which their aptitudes fitted them.
When originally formed, the Air Training Corps was divided into six squadrons, one in each State (except the Northern Territory). Each Wing had its Headquarters established in the Capital city of each State.
Promotion courses were commenced in 1949. Cadets could attain the rank of Pilot Officer, which was a commissioned rank. Later in 1959, the rank of Cadet Under Officer was introduced to replace the Pilot Officer.
In August 1974, the Federal Parliament of the day announced the decision to cease all operations of the Cadet Forces of Australia following a report into the Army Cadet Corps. Very strong public opposition and a change of government resulted in the Cadet Forces being reintroduced in 1975.
In 1977 the new Cadet Forces Regulations was approved by the Government, allowing the Air Training Corps, Naval Reserve Cadets and the Army Cadet Corps to be reformed with control delegated to the parent arm of the Defence Forces, but with provision for community sponsorship of cadet units.
The Air Training Corps consisted of eight (8) Squadrons across Australia, one in each state, except for Queensland, which had two Squadrons (divided by the Tropic of Capricorn). The Northern Territory also had a Squadron and the Australian Capital Territory was part of the NSW Squadron.
In the year 2000 a review of the Australian Services Cadet Scheme (ASCS) was initiated by the Government. This review, known as the Topley Report recommended the renaming of the ASCS to Australian Defence Force Cadets (ADFC) and the Air Training Corps be renamed as the Australian Air Force Cadets. The Government accepted this recommendation and hence the AAFC was formed in early 2001.
As part of the changes the organisation structure was renamed to align with current Air Force structures. Each state has a Wing with the exception of Queensland that has two Wings. The Wings are numbered starting with No 1 Wing in north Queensland and progressing in a clockwise manner around Australia to finish with Northern Territory as No 8 Wing. Within each wing are Squadrons. Each Squadron is designated with the Wing Number preceding the Squadron number (ie. all Squadrons in north Queensland are in the 100 range, in NSW they are in the 300 range). Special purpose Flights operate within Wings primarily for flying training and fieldcraft and are designated the same as a SQN (eg 716FLT, 320FLT, 706 (Ground Training) Flight).
Prior to 2001, present-day Squadrons were known as Flights and present day Wings were known as Squadrons.
The establishment of cadets in Australia exceeds 7500. This is the number of cadets allowed to be enrolled within the AAFC, not the actual numbers of enrolled cadets.
This is an extract from the Service Knowledge Induction third edition july 2004
