On Thursday night, 1094 City of Ely Squadron said goodbye to our Squadron’s Cadet Warrant Officer Rory Donoghue when he “aged out” of The Air Training Corps.
Warrant Officer Donoghue joined Ely’s Air Cadets as soon as he was able to when he was 12 and as soon as he was in year 8.
Since joining The Corps seven years ago, Rory has taken full advantage of all of the Corps’ huge range of activities and opportunities that only being an Air Cadet can offer.
From the very beginning Rory excelled in Sports representing his Squadron, Wing Region and Corps teams in Athletics, Football and Rugby being part of the Championship Winning Central and East Region Rugby Team three years in a row at RAF Cranwell in the Corps Rugby tournament. With Wing, Region and Corps blues he won The Wing Sportsman of The Year two years running before lockdown suspended Air Cadet Sports competitions.
In the feild of Aviation, CWO Donoghue attained his Solo Gliding Wings and took up Skydiving as a hobby after gaining his Air Cadet Parachute Wings at MOD Netheravon with The Army Parachute Instructors Association.
Exploring all aspects of fieldcraft, Rory even attended a week embedded with The RAF Regiment and even qualified for the Army Cadet Forces advanced leadership badge by spending a week on exercise with The ACF in Kent.
Having attended the Air Cadet Leadership Course at RAF Cranwell he ensured he passed on the lessons he learned to his own Squadron as well as The Wing as part of The Wing Training Team on Cadet NCO Courses
Taking on The Corps Motto “Venture Adventure” head on, Cadet Warrant Officer Donoghue has pursued a whole range of Adventurous sports and actvities including, snow boarding, skiing, skydiving, scuba diving, mountain biking, and white water kayaking in The Ardeche in France.
In early 2019 CWO Donoghue was all set to travel to Hong Kong having been awarded a place on the International Air Cadet Exchange. He was preparing for a three week trip to Africa to work on bringing running water to villages in need as part of The Westminster Award as well as attending a Buckingham Palace Garden party with the remaining three cadets of his intake to receive their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. Unfortunately, the worldwide lockdown put an end to this fitting culmination of a cadet carreer.
Hopefully his invitation to the Palace will arrive in 2022 before he begins his Basic Training next year with The Royal Air Force but in the meantime, he will continue serving within The Air Training Corps as a Civilian Instructor.
Thank you for your Service Warrant Officer and for mentoring so many young cadets and leading them to achieve so much both personally and together as a Squadron.
From 1094 Ely Squadron Royal Air Force Air Cadets
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