THE HISTORY OF 213 SQN ATC

The squadron was formed on the 1st February 1941 as 213 (Rochester) Squadron. It was the third squadron to be formed in the new Air Training Corps (the first 210 squadron numbers were taken by the old Air Defence Cadet Corps, which was absorbed into the ATC on its formation). Most of the ATC teaching took place in what is now the Adult Education Centre, which was then the Rochester Boys Technical School at Eastgate.

Unfortunately, names of most of the early staff have been lost to the mists of time, although it is believed that the first commanding officer was one Flt/Lt Boucher (a well known solicitor with the firm of Bassett and Boucher, who it is believed served as a pilot in WW1), who was succeeded later by Flt/Lt Lord (Deputy Town Clerk of Rochester). Other uniform staff included a Mr Lee (a teacher at Rochester Boys Technical School) and a Mr Brice (connected to local firm W. St J. Brice and Mockbegger Farm at Higham). Non uniform staff included Mr Norton (Morse instructor and licensee of the White Horse Inn at Borstal) and a Mr Spry (maths teacher from Boys' Tech).

A 1941 issue identity card

Cadets studied for proficiency certificates (parts 1 and 2) in either aircrew or technical subjects (see below). There were classes on aircraft recognition, elementary astro-navigation, Morse code sending and receiving and Aldis lamp signalling. The foot drill was carried out on Sunday mornings by instructors from the Royal Marines; either outside the building, in the playground of the Mathematical School (since demolished) about 200 yards west along Corporation Street, or on the Esplanade. Foot drill instruction was given by a drill instructor from the Royal Marines. Sometimes the Squadron would split into two groups and go off to a rural location and be put either side of a field, each group having an Aldis lamp with which they would send messages to each other (or try to).

The squadron also took part in any different types of sport. It is not know how much success the squadron had, but they had success in Athletics, as the article below shows (from ATC Gazette, Vol 1 no. 7 - September 1941).

In those days, the squadron also had its own band, and received regular instruction in drumming and using the mace from members of the Royal Marine Band from Chatham. The band was always in demand on civic occasions in the City of Rochester to head marches through the High Street with the Lord Mayor taking the salute outside the Guildhall. In those times there was no traffic to bother with on a Sunday morning!

213 Squadron Band circa 1942/3

(unfortunately none of the cadets names is known, except that of the base drummer, who was Roy Fewster. He was later made drum major)

The band would usually end its march by turning in to the path, by what is now the Dickens Centre and Roy Fewster's party-piece was to throw the mace up over the iron gateway and catch it on the other side.

 

Pictured left is another picture of the band (circa 1943/44) at the bandstand in Victoria Gardens, Chatham. Not all the cadets names are known, but far right is Cdt Sgt Charles Hill, Roy Fewster is at the far rear (by this time he has been promoted to Drum Major), second from left is "Nobby" Clark, Franklin is in front of Fewster, Weller is to the right of Fewster, the rest of sadly unknown.

Pictured right is Cadet Sergeant Charles G. Hill (from the band picture above) wearing his 1940s issue uniform. This uniform differs quite a lot from the uniform of today. This uniform, which was then the normal working day uniform, is now closer in appearance to the modern day No. 1 dress uniform, usually only worn on formal parades by Adult Sergeants and Flight Sergeants, Cadet Warrant Officers, and cadet bandsman. Differences between this uniform and the current uniform include: the forage cap (replaced by the beret, or No 1 dress peak cap), the jacket has been replaced by a shirt (and jumper in winter), the rank chevrons are smaller and worn on the shoulder epaulettes of the shirt, the combined Sqn number/ ATC badge at the top of the shoulder are now two separate badges which would be on a brassard on the right sleeve nowadays, along with the bandsman badge shown on the sleeve (the design of which appears not to have changed).

The squadron flew with No 168 Gliding School, which was based at Rochester Airport, then owned by Shorts the aircraft manufacturer. They flew a mixture of aircraft, including 2 Kirby Cadets, a Kirby Tutor, a dual seater BAC VII, and a Shorts Nimbus (the only one ever built, shown below left). Below right is some of the cadets and staff of the school, date unknown, but from when "Butch" White (a designer at Shorts Bros. who had helped design and build the Nimbus) had just taken over from Flt/Lt Tom Weeks. It also shows Cdt Sgt Hill (yes, he's back again) after gaining his "A" gliding certificate. 213 Squadron had disbanded by this time, which is why he is not in uniform.

Shorts Nimbus Glider

L-R unknown, Charles Hill, Benton, "Butch" White, Maitland Botten, Eddie Hurworth, unknown

Shortly after this picture was taken, Shorts Bros. moved to Belfast and the airport was sold. The school was moved to Detling, taking over the old RAF premises and hangers for a short time before finally disbanding. Unfortunately, before the move, while Charles Hill was operating the winch to launch the BAC VII, Eddie Hurworth, who was the instructor giving a pupil in initial flight, pulled back on the stick too much at 50 feet, resulting in a stall turn, from which he never recovered. The pupil sustained light injuries, but Eddie died on the way to hospital. The 2 seater was a write-off.

213 ATC Squadron had good connections with the powers that be in command of the RAF airfield at Gravesend during 1942/45. Members of the unit were allowed to go to Gravesend (and sometimes to sleep in the living quarters over a weekend) and help on the airfield during the daytime. The living quarters were situated along side the A2 on the south side in the trees near Shorne Woods Country Park. Access to the airfield was northwards along Thong Lane towards Gravesend. The airfield site is now covered by the Riverview Park housing estate. The control tower and main hanger buildings were about where the leisure centre is now. There were no paved runways, only a paved perimeter track right round the airfield. Cadets were shown how to load .303 rounds of ammunition in to "S" shaped clips, which formed into belts ready to load in to the aircraft wings. If they were lucky they would go with the bomb trolleys and help load 500lb bombs into the bomb bays of Mosquitoes or under the wings of Typhoons or Hurricanes.

 

213 Squadron Christmas card from the 1940s

In January 1942 the squadron was allocated a room above Blundell's shop in the High Street. (Blundell's stood on the corner on the opposite site of the walkway to Eastgate House) An aero engine was placed in a smaller room to assist in teaching cadets in engine mechanics.

213 Squadron also took part in war work. They helped out with firewatching at Rochester Cathedral. After training in how to deal with incendiary bombs, cadets would spend the night in the Gundulph Tower, which is the oldest part of the Cathedral. The tower was adapted with a wooden balcony to house bunk beds so the cadets could rest. Vergers were also on duty. Cadets also acted as messengers during Civil Defence exercises, sometimes at Rochester Police Station (then at Castle Hill, Rochester) or at Civil Defence HQ at Rochester Girls Grammar School.

After the end of the war, interest in the RAF declined and with it, interest in the Corps. The squadron found recruiting new members increasingly difficult and eventually the squadron had to be disbanded on the 20th November 1946.

Unfortunately all of the squadron records from this time have been lost. Most of the above information was taken from an article written by Mr. Patrick Devine, an ex-213 cadet, in "Venture Invictia", the history of Kent Wing ATC. Further information was e-mailed to the squadron in December 2005 by Mr Charles G. Hill (pictured above), an ex-213 cadet now living in Canada,as well as letters from Mr Peter Hoad and Mr R.C. Goodall. Many thanks to all these gentlemen for filling us in on our early years.

For many years, the world was without a 213 Squadron ATC, and a mighty sad place it was. However, in 1984, a decision was made to reform an air cadet unit in the Rochester area. Unfortunately, there was not enough potential cadets to justify the creation of a new squadron, and so it was that they became No 2 Detached Flight (Wainscott) of 1404 (Chatham) Sqn, with cadets and staff initially transferring from the main squadron to the detached flight. The flight left the main squadron headquarters in Boundary Road, Chatham and relocated to Wainscott Primary School in Wainscott (below right), from where the flight began recruiting from the Rochester, Strood and Hoo Peninsula areas. The flight's first commanding officer was AWO Middleton (assisted by C.I. Godden and C.W.O. Everett). Shown below left is the flight's badge.

The flight badge features a Sunderland flying boat, many of which were built in Rochester by Short Brothers, on the River Medway with Rochester Castle and Rochester Cathedral in the background along with the Corps badge. In the early years, the flight worked hard to increase the numbers of cadets attending, and quickly forged a reputation as a hard working squadron, excelling in adventure training, the Duke of Edinburgh's award and charity work. The Squadron was and is an active participant in the annual Battle of Britain parade in Rochester, and was responsible for supporting RAFA by organising the marching parade (until it moved to Gillingham).

In 1986 came the unit's first change of command, when AWO Middleton was replaced by AWO (later Flt. Lt.) V. Beaney.

One of the flight's early activities was the creation of the continuity rifle drill team (continuity drill is drill without any spoken orders) which performed public displays at a variety of events in the summers of 1988-1990, to great reviews.

 

After much hard work, the unit gained squadron status on 1st July 1992 to become 213 (City of Rochester) Squadron. The new squadron official crest (shown below) features many of the components of the old flight badge.

One high point of the early years came in sport, when in November 1992 the squadron won Kent Wing's Seven-a Side Rugby Trophy. This was despite only having six players. Sport was another area in which the squadron excelled, with many cadets going on to represent Wing, Region and even Corps in many different sports.

1990 Wing 7-a-side Rugby winning team (L-R) Tomik Sladden, James Parkinson, Adam Hyland, Richard Simmons, Shaun Savage, Steven Reed

The squadron continued to work hard. During the first year of its existence the Squadron raised the remarkable sum of £1,500 for a variety of charities, including the Kent Air Ambulance.

In October 1993, the squadron won Kent Wing's Inter-Squadron Drill competition. This was particularly satisfying as the squadron had been narrowly beaten into second place the year before.

1994 started great as the squadron found out that we had won the Clarke Efficiency Trophy. This is a complicated competition, for which points are awarded for all manner of different achievements of a squadron, including exam results, marksman badges, Duke of Edinburgh's Awards, etc. These marks are then averaged using the squadron strength over the year to enable a comparison between squadrons of varying size.

However in April a sad event took place as Flt Lt Beaney finally left the squadron. He had been a big part of the squadron and instrumental in us getting squadron status. On his last night, he was presented with a painting of a Shorts Sunderland flying boat, as in the squadron crest. On leaving us, he took command of 1404 (Chatham) Sqn, where he had first served as a cadet. (He is currently serving as a Squadron Leader in charge of Adventure Training and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award at Kent Wing). He was replaced at 213 Sqn by Flt Lt A Parkinson RAFVR(T).

1994 proved to be a busy year for the squadron as we finally got our own squadron headquarters, a converted classroom building in the grounds of Wainscott Primary School. Before then the squadron's equipment and records had to be packed into one cupboard and a filing cabinet in the school (as well as many staff members loft and garages).

Much of the summer was taken up with fixing up the new building and getting it ready, as well as organising and storing all of the squadron's equipment (it turned out that we had a lot more stuff than we thought).

The remainder of the nineties proved to be exciting as ever, with us settling into own new home and getting on with exams, sport, Duke of Edinburgh's awards, etc. Then in March 2000, there was another change in command as Flt Lt Parkinson left the squadron. Flt Lt G N J Kirsopp RAFVR(T) (who had only joined us a few weeks before as a Flying Officer) took command.

Once again, the squadron continued on its way, and in 2003 we became the proud winners of the Kent Wing's Clarke efficiency trophy. Also in 2003,Cadet Corporal Matthew Taylor became the Lord Lieutenant of Kent's Cadet Poppy Appeal Winner, having raised the most money out all the cadets (Air, Army, Sea or Marine) in Kent.

Cadet Corporal Matthew Taylor

In March 2004, the squadron won another Kent Wing trophy, this time it was the Dole Trophy for administrative efficiency. Also in this year was another first in the squadrons history, when Cadet Sergeant Hannan Noonan completed both her Gliding and Flying Scholarships in the space of six months. Such a feat was deemed worthy enough for her certificates to be presented by the then Wing C.O., Wing Commander Simpson.

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