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28th March 2007

Falklands 25 (An evening to remember)

None of the 37 cadets that paraded at 134 (Bedford) Squadron on Monday 19th March 2007 were alive at the time of the Falklands Conflict 25 years ago, so a themed history evening was just the event needed to remind the cadets of this recent conflict.

The Falklands Conflict, 2 April to 14 June 1982, followed the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina in early April 1982. It was a unique period in the history of Britain and Argentina and, although war was never formally declared, the brief conflict saw nearly 1,000 lives lost on both sides and many more wounded.

The evening commenced with a presentation of the history of the ownership of the Falklands detailing how France, Spain, Holland, Britain, Argentina and even the Americans vied for control of the islands. At the end of this presentation the cadets were given the opportunity to decide for themselves who they felt owned the disputed islands and they decided the islands should remain British.

This was followed by a reconstruction of the famous Black Buck bombing raid on Port Stanley airfield on 1 May 1982.

Having grasped the enormity of the effort required to fly what was then recorded as the longest bombing mission in history, it was back to the classroom where the cadets constructed a timeline detailing and presenting on notable events in the run up to, and during, the conflict.

The evening concluded with a 10 minute video presentation during which original news footage from the conflict was shown to reinforce the important lessons highlighted in the earlier part of the evening.

In order to bring the session to life the cadets were invited to dress as characters from the Falklands Conflict. There was a healthy mixture of penguins, RAF and RN pilots, special forces and even an Argentinean conscript on parade, but pride of place went to a very convincing Mrs Thatcher, aka Corporal Peter Clough, 16 yrs, complete with handbag!

The Iron Lady Returns

Corporal Clough went on to win a limited edition Falklands Conflict commemorative medal as he was judged by the staff to have made the most effort in the competition.

Civilian Instructor Chris Wiggins who organised the evening said, “Remembering this conflict is very important and it was great to be able to educate the cadets into the history of this conflict. All of the staff worked hard to deliver an evening of interactive events and we have succeeded in educating the cadets about the Falklands Conflict.”