My interest in the armed services has always been fairly close to the surface. The Second World War, and the Battle of Britain in particular, really sparked my aspiration to fly in the services as I have always found it totally captivating.
I left Princethorpe College in the summer of 2009 and subsequently attended the University of Birmingham to read Civil Engineering. After starting at University I signed up to the Army Reserves. This taught me a lot about the services, from the ethos-based lifestyle and the camaraderie, to the realities of service in the military.
The experience of training with the Army Reserves eventually led to my application to join the regular Army as an Officer, despite my initial interest to be a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF). I followed this route right up to the final stage, which would have seen me attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst upon the completion of my studies. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) I had a bad bicycle accident in which I damaged the ligaments in my shoulder, causing me to postpone my Army Officer application whilst recovering.
After four years of hard work, Army training and socialising, I graduated from university with a 2:1 in my Masters. Over the summer I worked with the Army Reserves on recruitment drives, courses and expeditions before transferring to the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, as it is closer to my Leicestershire home. During this time I was working on my fitness with a view to entry to Sandhurst and I met my girlfriend, Charlie Nelson. Charlie’s father happened to be a dentist in the RAF and this re-kindled my interest in the service although disappointingly pilot recruitment had been closed for many months.
In late 2013, I registered my interest with the RAF through the Armed Forces Careers Office and signed the waiting list. I was incredibly fortunate as recruitment reopened in mid-January 2014. Suffice to say I quickly filled in the form and submitted it with a feeling of excitement and anticipation for the opportunity ahead of me. At this time Charlie’s father was an invaluable source of information and advice. It was also very useful to have a contact with which I could get in touch with some of the Squadrons along the pilot training pipeline. This meant that I was able to visit two flying stations, 75(R) Squadron at RAF Linton-on-Ouse and 29(R) Squadron at RAF Conningsby. These visits were as fascinating as they were informative. It was deeply interesting to discover more about the lifestyle and day-to-day routine of pilot life in the Officers’ Mess alongside the high-tempo of training sorties. A particularly memorable part of each trip was being able to go into the simulators at the different stations; on the Tucano fast jet trainer at Linton-on-Ouse and on the Eurofighter Typhoon at Conningsby.
It wasn’t long before I was called forward to sit the infamous aptitude tests at the Royal Air Force College (RAFC) Cranwell in Lincolnshire. With a failure rate of 60% for pilot entry and no way to prepare, I nervously awaited what I knew would be a gruelling day of testing to see how my brain works. As a Pilot applicant I was sitting the full test and, as expected, it was an exceedingly long day. The testing was ruthless and began at 7am and finished at around 5pm. Then, the moment of truth, a Flight Lieutenant called me into a meeting room where I was told that I had passed and would continue forward with the pilot application process. It was a true relief, although not without further punishment, as I awoke the following day feeling as though I had an incredibly cruel hangover even though I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol! Despite that, I drove the entire 70-mile trip home with a grin from ear-to-ear.
The next stage of the application consisted of a filter interview, which assessed my service knowledge, leadership potential, etc. I was grateful for my Army application as it gave me crucial experience of formal interviews and keeping calm under pressure.
The most important and final stage of the application process was to attend the Officer & Aircrew Selection Centre (OASC) for three days. Once again I found myself completely indebted to those who helped me at the time or who had previously offered advice and support through my Army application. I was fortunate to find myself within a strong syndicate; the group I would be working with during the teamwork and leadership stages. It was during these stages that I was able to catch the attention of the Boarding Staff and gain some important marks. This stood me in good stead, as I did not feel I performed as well as I hoped during the testing individual stages and final interview.
It was then a case of waiting. Seven days later I received a phone call (while at a pub!) where I was told that I had been successful at OASC and that I had been offered a place at Initial Officer Training (IOT) at RAFC Cranwell in October 2014. Once again I was in a situation of pure glee; I could not contain my absolute ecstasy and found myself almost unable to believe it, expecting to be woken up at any moment! Surprisingly enough, it turned out not to be a dream and I am, on the 12th October 2014, starting at RAFC Cranwell to begin IOT.
I will spend thirty weeks at Cranwell, where I will be taught everything from the very basics of military skills, to the finer points of leadership and academic studies of the applications of Air Power. Provided I don’t have any set backs during my time at the college I will commission as a Flying Officer into the Royal Air Force in mid-June 2015.
Following my commissioning I will begin flight training that will be at RAF Cranwell where I will start at Ground School, learning the theory of flying and sortie planning, etc. Following the successful completion of this, I will move on to flight training (the exciting bit!). To begin with I will fly a light aircraft (the Grob Tutor) where I will be assessed on my strengths and weaknesses. After around 30 weeks of this course I will be streamed onto a specialist aircraft type based on my performance on the Elementary Flying Training. The three streams are Fast Jet (Typhoon, Tornado & F-35), Rotary (Puma, Chinook, etc.) and Multi-Engine (Hercules, Sentry, Voyager, Atlas etc.). I am currently hoping for Fast Jets as I think it offers some of the most rewarding flying experiences and a wide variety of diverse deployment options, but it is still very much early days!
If you would like to know more feel free to contact me via email at tim_b_smith@hotmail.co.uk, although, due to the lack of Internet at RAFC Cranwell the best option may be to send a letter to;
OC Smith TB
30116078
D Sqn
OACTU
RAFC Cranwell
Sleaford
Lincolnshire
NG34 8HE
I will endeavour to get back to you in good time. Thank you for reading.
Tim Smith
