A brief history of 1002 (Ross-on-Wye) Squadron  

Kindly compiled by Mr Martin Morris (Ross Gazette)

and Squadron staff

1002 Squadron Air Training Corps 1941-46

Less than four months after the Battle of Britain had been fought and won, and when the Blitz was at its height, Winston Churchill’s government gave approval on January 9^th 1941 to the inauguration of the Air Training Corps. It was for boys of 16 years and over to receive Preliminary Training before joining the Royal Air Force or Fleet Air Arm and it had instant appeal to adventurous youngsters who eagerly awaiting their 18^th birthday when they would be old enough to be with their fathers and elder brothers in the fight for survival. For these were the desperate days when Britain stood alone against the Axis powers. There was an ever increasing need for young men to crew the aircraft coming off the production lines and the Air Ministry lost no time in setting up the new Corps. Ross too was quick off the mark. On February 4^th, less than four weeks after the announcement, a meeting was held at the Grammar School under the chairmanship of Mr R.G. Webb, chairman of Ross Urban District Council, and attended by Mr F Leeds, headmaster of the Grammar School, and

 Mr A.W .Humphreys. headmaster of George Green’s School from Popular London, who shared the Grammar School premises from 1940-45. They had a bank manager Mr H T Stephens as treasurer, Mr D H Thomas, clerk to Ross and Whitchurch Rural District Council, as secretary, and co-opting members  Mr Reeks, of Felstead School, who were evacuated to the neighbourhood, and Mr B G Abel, headmaster of Ross Council Schools.

 Most vital person of all at the meeting was Mr H G Mountford, who became the squadron’s first Officer commanding. “Monty”, as he was popularly known, had served in the Coldstream Guards during the Great War and was now science master at the Grammar School. He was a Special Constable on the outbreak of war but abandoned this role to direct his considerable energies to mustering officers and cadets. 

At a committee meeting the next month, Mr Thomas reported sending out letters to 220 boys and so far many had joined. The formation of the squadron was approved and application made for a grant of £50. The treasurer said there was now £5 4s (£5:20) in the funds from voluntary subscriptions.

 The appointment of Mr Mountford was confirmed, Mr Thomas was appointed adjutant, with other officers, Mr R K Field and Mr G Yorke, masters at the  Grammar School, Mr G C L Wilkes, of George Green’s School, Mr A Betts, of Ross Council Schools, and Mr J H Hawkins, of Whitchurch.  

The squadron’s first parade was at the Grammar School on the afternoon of Saturday March 8^th, with 74 cadets. At the second parade on Sunday March 16^th there were 85 cadets and by the end of the month 96 had enrolled. The numbers soon became too great to drill on the tarmac at the school and the station yard was brought into use as a parade ground. By the end of April there were 106 on the register, of whom eleven would still be under 16 years on July 31^st. Education test showed that 46 could, subject to medical examination, become air crew and 19 others were young enough to take a course to bring them up to standard.

 The squadron was given the number 1002 but it was late summer before the uniform came. This did not deter the boys for they were full of enthusiasm and cheerfully returned to classrooms in the evenings, equipped with protractors and compasses to learn the intricacies of a form of maths essential to navigation.  There were lectures three evenings a week and on Sunday morning there was drill  (“You’re in the Royal Air Force now”, the instructor would bark). 

In July two cadets joined the R A F (the first of many). The Market House was used for boxing and a visit was made to an R A F station, probably the wartime aerodrome at Madley. In the following month the squadron went to camp and learnt more about life in the R A F.  Ross Operatic and Dramatic Society promised to give the profits of their production “Billeted” to the squadron welfare fund and the boys were ordered to stand by to give whatever help was needed. In September parades were reduced to Thursday evenings and  Sunday mornings and more use was made of the Market House with Billiards, Table Tennis, Boxing, Darts and Card games with aircraft recognition cards. On Remembrance Sunday the squadron paraded in public for the first time and at the end of November marched through the town again in

“Warships Week”,  a campaign to stimulate National Savings. One hundred boys marched with the squadron through Felsted School now had its own unit.

 In March 1942 the first anniversary was celebrated with a dance and social and service stripes were issued to 27 cadets who had put in between112 and 164 hours of attendance in the 12 months. 21 took proficiency examinations, 10 passing for pilot observers and 5 for wireless operators. 

The anniversary month also saw the resignation of Mr Mountford on his appointment as headmaster of Lady Hawkins Grammar School, Kington. He was succeeded by

 Mr Field, geography master at the grammar school, who in June reported 134 cadets on the rolls, but attendance at lectures unsatisfactory at 60 percent. An Air Ministry Order asked for two Sundays a month to be kept free of morning parades, but as only four cadets expressed a wish to attend church services, 1002 squadron decided with the approval of regional commandant to keep Sunday mornings, with a few prayers at the start of the parade. February 5^th was observed as A T C Sunday and the squadron and Felsted’s marched from Ryefield Road to a service in the parish church where the lesson was read by Cadet Tom Passey, fifty years later a member of the civilian committee. The service was followed by tea.

 At camp the next month the 60 Ross boys received a present of 1000 cigarettes from the town’s butchers. All the boys who visited an aerodrome in September were given flights, and in November the committee authorised the purchase of 32 pairs of  PT shoes at 3 shillings (15p) a pair. In December John Payne became the first ex-cadet to be commissioned in the RA F.

 Earlier in the year, Mr Webb had given the squadron a trumpet and now there was talk of a bugle band. The Ross Gazette (whose full report of A T C meetings had made this history possible) launched an appeal and on January 7^th 1943, announced that they were half way to the target, subscriptions so far totalling £40 19s (£40:95). In February four drums and six bugles were purchased, to be followed by a gift of three drums and two bugles from Mr Ward Smith, of Weston-under-Penyard. In April six more bugles and three side drums were purchased for £50 19s 4d (£50:97) and the next month the band made its first public appearance at another National Savings campaign parade, ”Wings for Victory”. 

April brought its tragedy with the death of two former cadets- Frank Murphy whilst serving in the Merchant Navy, and George Alloway in the R A F. 

Training visits to R A F stations continued throughout 1943 and at the end of the year Mr Field joined the R A F   and was succeeded as Officer Commanding by another master from the grammar school, Mr G Yorke, who taught maths. Mrs Field continued to provide a useful service with teas for cadets coming straight from work.

 Two more ex-cadets were reported missing - Sergeant Flight Engineer John Horizon and Pilot Officer Pane, but happily it was subsequently learned that they were prisoners-of-war and returned home in 1945.

 The summer of 1944 saw the urgency for the A T C begin to decline. D Day confirmed that the R A F had complete supremacy over the Luftwaffe and for the remainder of the war the Allied Air Forces dominated the skies. This happy situation ironically had its effect on the zest for training. In July the squadron closed down for two months except for the two officers and forty cadets who went to camp and on resumption in the autumn training became less intensive. In September it was reported that in the previous three months five cadets had joined the R A F, one the Royal Navy, two the Army and four had left the district and two dismissed for poor attendance. More satisfactorily, close relationships were being made with the local Army Cadet Force, and though there was never any question of amalgamation cadets from both units joined in shooting practice, boxing and football matches. This friendship was commented upon by Air Vice Marshall W.G.Callaway, Midlands Commander of the A T C on a visit to the squadron. 

A grim reminder that the war was still full of sorrow was the news that Flight Sergeant Bill Moss had been killed while flying over Holland. 

Uncertainty about the future role of the A T C continued to have an effect on morale and eventually led to the closure of the squadron in 1946. Group Captain Wright, MP in an address to officers at Hereford admitted that it was a scandal  that boys from the A T C were being rejected by the R A F while others were being accepted. The factor towards this, he said, was that R A F casualties since D Day had been only a tenth of those expected, The Luftwaffe had collapsed, and a large number of trained aircrews was in reserve. At the same time the Army needed all the recruits it could get.

 In February 1945 the squadron strength was down to 54 and in May the European war was over and the A T C joined in a parade of thanksgiving service at the Crossfields. Three months later they were unable to take part in the local celebrations for victory over Japan because they were in camp. In the meantime, Mr Yorke had resigned, to take a   well earned rest after giving most of his leisure time over four years to the squadron. 

Another schoolmaster, but this time from the Council Schools, Mr A Betts took command but after struggling on he felt compelled to tell the squadron committee on February 17^th 1946 that he felt time was being wasted for boys knew that they could not enter the R A F for flying unless they volunteered for as least seven years service.