BANGOR AIR CADET HEADS STATESIDE FOR PRESTIGIOUS EXCHANGE

Cadet Flight Sergeant Thomas Anderson from Bangor Air Cadets, was chosen as one of only 50 cadets from across the United Kingdom to take part in an exciting International Air Cadet Exchange programme.

The International Air Cadet Exchange (IACE) plan and run world-wide exchanges for aviation-minded young people who, for 15 days every July and August, get the opportunity to expand their horizons, get a taste of the other’s culture and gain other great cadet experiences – making life-long friendships at the same time.

Thomas tells of his experiences on his trip of a lifetime:

The IACE adventure started with a flight from Belfast to Heathrow, meeting the UK America team and staying the night in Brunel University. Early in the morning we boarded our British Airways A380 for the seven hour flight to Dulles International Airport in America!

We landed in America just before lunch USA time, however, we felt ready for dinner. The first American person I met was a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) officer, and one of the main organisers of the exchange, called Peggy. She took us to our first accommodation which was the Hilton Hotel in Crystal City, Washington DC. All fourteen of us piled into three CAP vans and we were cruising on the interstate towards DC. On our way to the hotel we spotted some of the sites we would be visiting within our first three days in DC, including the Washington monument, Arlington cemetery and the Lincoln memorial. We spent the remainder of the day meeting the rest of the America team, including the other cadets that had travelled from Hong Kong, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands.

The next two days were spent touring Washington DC where we saw the White House, the Washington monument, the Lincoln memorial, Arlington cemetery and Udvar-Hazy. Of course there was a 39°C heat wave for these two days that we were walking around the city with no air conditioning. However it was all completely worth it. Udvar-Hazy is a National Air and Space Museum that contains the real Space Shuttle “Discovery” as well as the actual Apollo 11 space capsule. The museum also contains iconic aircraft from every stage through the history of flight and, as an air cadet and aviation fanatic, I could have easily spent three whole days in the museum. 

Arlington Cemetery is a military cemetery containing 624 acres worth of military burial sites. This is where President John F.Kennedy is also buried alongside his family as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is monument that remembers all of the soldiers that have died but not identified. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier we witnessed the changing of the guard. This was very impressive to watch, especially since the guards have to march with their full uniform on in 39°C. We also visited the graves of the Challenger Shuttle disaster. The whole experience was very moving with all of us getting shivers despite the hot weather.

At the start of the fourth day, I travelled to the Middle East Region (Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland) along with eighteen other cadets from England, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and South Korea with our main hosts, Tom and Brenda. Tom and Brenda were husband and wife and officers in the CAP. On our first day with them we went to NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre and the National Security Agency (NSA) museum. We learnt about the Hubble Telescope operations and cryptology. We then hit the road to our accommodation, Camp Fretterd. Camp Fretterd is an army base which protects the Vice President should there be a threat to the President, Vice President or Speaker.

Day five saw us travelling to Gettysburg. This was where the battle took place between the confederates and the union during the American civil war. A history teacher in a local school who was also a CAP officer informed us of what happened and all the tactics each side had. Later that day he kindly cooked us our first American BBQ. There was plenty of food and we only got through about half of it! 

The sixth day we woke up early for a long bus ride to Philadelphia. When we arrived we met some CAP cadets at the bottom of the steps from the movie “Rocky”. They stayed with us the whole day and took us around the city. We saw the Rocky statue and liberty bell, but most importantly we experienced a Philly Cheese Steak at the local market. Meeting the CAP cadets was fantastic and we have become good international friends. By the end of this day everyone was very tired and we slept for the whole bus ride back to Camp Fretterd. That evening there was a rolling thunderstorm that went right over us. We had a power cut for around half an hour but the storm was great.

The seventh day we went to Hershey Amusement and Water Park. Hershey is the main chocolate company in America. We did a tour of the factory, taught some CAP cadets how to do proper drill, and then went into the amusement park. By far the best rollercoaster was Farren Height. It takes you up at 90° and then drops you, turns you upside down and does negative G in the space of about a minute.

On the eighth day we travelled up to Baltimore. There we went to Fort McHenry and Baltimore’s inner harbour. Fort McHenry is where one of the battles of independence took place against the British. The British navy fleet bombarded the fort for a whole day, however the fort was defended too well and the British lost. This was where the “star spangled banner” was created. In Baltimore’s inner harbour we went on-board the USS Constellation, an old flagship sailing boat, and the USS Torsk, a WW2 submarine. Later that day we had our second BBQ where Col. Knowles and Col. Winter attended. These two CAP officers made the exchange possible and were involved in organising some of our activities and our accommodation. We showed our thanks by giving some gifts from our home countries and certificates. 

The next day was our flying day! We were all excited about this day, especially the Hong Kong cadets as they don’t get to fly back home. We went to the Warfield Air National Guard Base where we flew an Airvan and Cessna 182’s; as well as having a tour of A-10 Warthogs and a C-130. We managed to fly over Fort McHenry that we’d seen the dy before and I was lucky enough to be in the air at the same time as A-10 warthogs. Five minutes after we landed, three A-10’s did a tactical landing at Warfield where I was standing only 50 meters away.

The tenth day in America we moved from Camp Fretterd to Langley Air Force Base, which are home to F-22 Raptor’s, and even though we were traveling for a long time we still seemed to do many activities! On our way to Langley we stopped off at Fort Washington and then went kayaking on the Potomac River. The river had lots of wildlife to look at and I manged to see turtles, dragon flies and herrings. We eventually arrived at Langley to the thunderous sound of F-22 Raptors taking off! Our camp was right beside the runway so we had some great views of the aircraft. However, we found out that the cabins we were staying in were previously used as an Ebola quarantine and so everything inside the cabin was burnt, including the comfy mattresses. Therefore we were on camp beds with sleeping bags.

The following day we got a tour of Langley Air Force Base. We went to the control tower and the practice simulator for the control tower. We watched real and simulated F-22’s land and take off. We then visited the bases honour guard. The honour guard specialise in drill and usually take part in funerals and guarding national monuments. They showed us a drill sequence and then each cadet force showed their own drill. Later that day we went to the on base bowling alley where we celebrated Kent’s, a Canadian cadet, birthday.

  

On the eleventh day we went to Norfolk Naval Base, the largest Naval Base in the world. In Norfolk we saw four massive aircraft carriers, two nuclear submarines and a helicopter squadron. We were allowed to go inside the submarines but two thirds of the ship was classified. The helicopter squadron was called the Nightdippers. They operated Seahawks and do search and rescue operations while also providing anti-surface warfare while at sea. 
Our last day in the Middle East region was spent in the Marine Corps National Museum. We met a real marine and learnt about their history from marine veterans. We then had our third and final BBQ at Col. Winter’s house where we thanked him again and gave our gifts to our main hosts Tom and Brenda. We arrived back in DC at our original hotel and said our goodbyes to Tom and Brenda.

For the last three days in America we stayed in DC. We went to another air and space museum, the natural history museum and a big, four story shopping mall. The last evening we gave a group presentation on our experience in the Middle East region and the Great Lakes Region did likewise. We had to be up early for our flight home which was on a 747. I got home and went straight to bed for fifteen hours because of the jet lag and the busy time we had. It was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go.