ATC Iroquois Flight
The No. 3 Squadron Cup.
By CDT F/S Aidan Jackson, No 17 Squadron ATC Drill Team
For the first time in 19 years, No 17 (City of Christchurch) ATC Squadron entered into the No. 3 Squadron Cup - Southern Area Drill Competition.
After a lot of practice we finally won and represented the Southern Area in the National Davy Memorial Drill Competition. As their reward for winning the No. 3 Squadron Cup, the members of the drill team got to have a flight in an Iroquois. Although originally scheduled for Tuesday 26 August, due to adverse weather down south the Iroquois couldn't make it to Wigram so the flight was rescheduled for the next day. There we all were at 4pm on Wednesday at Wigram waiting for the bird to arrive, all jumping around with excitement. After aircraft captain FLTLT Rob Cato had awarded us the trophy and photos were taken of us, the flight crew and the trophy, we received a safety brief. We were assigned to flight times, as there were 12 cadets and only room for 9 on board. The pilots flew us around Wigram and did a few basic manoeuvres including forward and reverse flight, bank turns, sideways flight and hover. I was in the gunners seat and in one banked turn I was able to look down into peoples backyards and saw a little cat chasing a big dog. It is difficult to pick a high point of the day which everyone enjoyed, and we're all hoping to do it again next year. Our sincere appreciation goes to FLTLT Cato, aircrew LT Alex Trotter and SGT Jeremy Day; and No. 3 Squadron for making the flight available, thank you!