2524 (Oakington) Squadron History

2524 (Oakington) Squadron was formed on the 1st April 1975. Before that it was known as 104DF, the DF standing for Detached Flight. 104 (City of Cambridge) squadron was and is probably the largest squadron in our area.

104 DF was formed in 1968 and was located at RAF Oakington. It was then moved to "The Mount", a large house in Longstanton, that was also used as Beds, Cambs, and Hunts Wing HQ. The DF had several Commanding Officers including Fg Off Hopkins, Fg Off Winters, Fg Off Williams and Fg Off Fanning. Fg Off Hopkins went on to command 104 squadron. Other staff included AWO (Dick) Wade, Mr. (Fred) Taylor who was with the squadron until 1991. Other CIs included Mr. Cliff Day, Mr. Gordon Starling and others. The DF had a fairly unstable time going from a strength of 30 (or just under) cadets to fewer than 10 in the late part of 1971 when there was also a lack of staff members.

The DF was adopted by the Milton branch of the Royal Air Force Association in 1970, and they continue to support us to the present time.

Cadets outside the original squadron HQ

1976 saw many changes. The Mount was sold by the RAF, Beds and Cambs Wing (as it had become) moved into Cambridge, and 104 DF moved to its present location at RAF Oakington. It then became 2524 (Oakington) Squadron. Its first Commanding Officer was Flt Lt (Stan) Colmer; other staff included AWO (Bob) Wheatley who had been a CWO, who transferred to 104 sqn.  AWO Williams then became Squadron Warrant Officer. He was another ex cadet of the DF.

The squadron continued to prosper achieving its best (to date) cadet strength of 60 cadets, in the late seventies. With the departure of the RAF from Oakington in 1979, we lost some of the help that had been given by serving forces personnel. Since then we have had varying levels of help and support from the Army units which have been stationed on the barracks.

New Squadron HQ

We moved into our new Squadron HQ in April 1999 which we share with the Army Cadet Corps following the closure of Oakington barracks. This is a larger building that is maintained by the Reserve Forces and Cadet Association (RFCA). This building, like our previous HQ, was formely a NAAFI shop.