Aviator's Development Flight Marks Black History Month

Station History AVIATOR’S DEVELOPMENT FLIGHT MARKS BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Flt Lt Stephen Andor, RTS

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede in Surrey, England, commemorates by name over 20,000 air force personnel who selflessly gave their lives during the Second World War and who have no known graves. These people served in Bomber, Coastal, Fighter, Transport, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands as well as on Special Duties.

They came from all parts of the Commonwealth and of course some came from countries in continental Europe which had been overrun but whose airmen continued to find in the ranks of the Royal Air Force.

On Monday 24 October 2022, a contingent of recruits from McTeague and Servicepersons awaiting trade training (SATT) alongside permanent Recruit Training Squadron staff and wider RAF attended a ceremony to mark and pay respects to these individuals as part of Defence’s October Black History Month events.

Headlined by AVM Harris, RAF Ethnic Minority (EM) Network advocate, the group were expertly marshalled by Simon Bendry, Head of Education & Engagement with the Commonwealth War Graves received a 45-minute guided tour. The tour told the stories behind the names such as Noor Inayat Khan GC, a secret agent who was the first female radio operator sent into the Nazioccupied France by Special Operations Executive.

Following the tour, a sombre wreath-laying ceremony was conducted. Wreaths were laid by Air Recruit Chesney, one of the McTeague

recruits alongside AVM Harris. Poignantly a fellow Air Recruit, AR Withers, identified her great-uncle who served during WW2 but was lost to the war effort. Teas and coffees followed the main event atop the memorial overlooking the distant horizon of London to cap an excellent day.

Ethnic Minorities from the Commonwealth volunteered to serve in the RAF from 1942, just 3 years after the RAF lifted a bar preventing ‘non-British born men’ to serve. The hope is that acts of storytelling and the associated celebrations of this previously unrecognised community will help to create a stronger more visible tradition within the RAF community. This will help make people from these communities remain a signicant factor in the thoughts of our service, and that all these stories will be shared far and wide.