NEWS RELEASE
CADETS CANADA
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In a post-COVID first, air cadets from around central Ontario gathered at Canadian Forces Base Borden for Air Cadet Activity Day (ACAD).
This weekend-long event has been hosted by the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering (CFSATE) for more than 40 years. Despite the pause necessitated by COVID closures, the event did not miss a beat, and not only was the turnout excellent, but so were the events, displays, and the activities.
“The purpose of Air Cadet Activity Day, here at the home of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), is to have fun,” said Acting CFSATE Commandant, Maj. Darryl Gilbert CD.
He took the time to welcome the cadets and staff from Royal Canadian Air Cadet squadrons from around central Ontario to the two-day event, where cadets would have the opportunity to not only participate in many Air Force/aviation-themed activities, challenges, and static displays, but also to make new friends and experience new opportunities in a spirit of camaraderie.
Cadets enjoyed static displays of some of the RCAF’s finest aircraft and aerospace training equipment, from Iroquois helicopters, to CF-18 fighter jets, to flight and marksmanship simulators. They were even given the opportunity to participate as a team in manually hauling a T-33 jet down the Borden runway with a tow rope. Corp. Hannah Fawcett of 812 “Bucks Crossing” Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron in Hanover said that she enjoyed pulling the Tutor down the runway with her squadron mates “because it was fun to work with my friends as a team to get the job done.”
Hosted as a pair of day-long events for the various participating cadet units, ACAD is the culmination of months of planning and co-ordination by 16 Wing Borden’s CFSATE. The degree of effort and passion that went into putting this experience into play was evident on the proud faces of the school’s staff and students, but even more so in the smiles to be found amongst the cadet participants.
Air Cadet Activity Day is a project of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering, which is a professional training school for the Royal Canadian Air Force. It is a unit that is part of 16 Wing located at Canadian Forces Base Borden. The Canadian Cadet Organization is one of the largest youth development programs in Canada, with approximately 65,000 young women and young men between the ages of 12 and 19, in communities throughout the nation.
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