Despite poor forecast weather conditions 612 Volunteer Gliding Squadron have smashed an Air Cadet gliding record with the help of Air Cadets in the Thames Valley.

In order to even stand a chance of breaking the previous record of 100 Gliding Induction Course flights in a day - the 50 cadets who had slept in a tented city on the Dalton Barracks (formerly RAF Abingdon) site were woken up at 3.30am for a traditional "full English" breakfast served up by a dedicated catering team. Next, the six Vigilant gliders were checked then manhandled in near darkness from the hangar under the lights of a Landover ready to be taxied out to flight line for a 4.42am start.

News spread fast of the record attempt and the cadets and staff on the ground were quickly  joined by local BBC radio and TV crews ready to scoop an exclusive. The event was broadcast live in four 10 minute slots from the BBC Radio Oxford radio car into their flagship breakfast show while the film crews rushed back to base to air the pictures on BBC South Today.  

By 9.00am(!) the Gliding Squadron had chalked up 60 flights and the record was easily in their sights. This progress continued all day, but in the back of everybody's mind was the atrocious weather that had been forecast including thunders storms! Well the worst happened and at 6pm the skies opened and the airfield was shut for an hour and gliders in the air had to contemplate diverting to nearby RAF Brize Norton or RAF Benson. After the storm passed flying started again and passing the 200 mark was achievable.

At the end of the day the whole team were ecstatic on their record of 234 Gliding Induction Course flights in a day that saw more aircraft movements at the Volunteer Gliding Squadron than at Heathrow and which will take a lot of beating! 

Local Thames Valley Wing Commander, Chris Fisher was impressed at the way everybody worked together "This event really shows how good an organization the Air Cadets is and what we can achieve for our cadets when we work together".   He continued: "My thanks to everyone from 612 VGS and to the cadets and staff for all of their efforts".

More images can be found at http://www.box.net/shared/svtn58urri