1571 Squadron ATC

The squadron strength was about 30 - 40 cadets, all were pupils at the school. We used to parade in the main hall with the officers using the Deputy Head Master's office and the NCOs using the secretary's office.

The annual inspection was a laugh. The inspection always took place during the

winter so that the parade had to take place indoors. The squadron parading round the corridors with rifles at the slope taking care not to taking pieces out of the corridor ceiling. The inspecting officer took the salute in the foyer by the Head Master's office as we marched past three abreast, which was quite difficult in those narrow corridors.

Flt. Lt. Ted Say, he was CO for a time and a teacher at another local school . Also at the time Michael de Boch Porter was Sqd Adjutant - I think that he was a pilot during the war and flew one of the light bombers possibly Bostons, but when Ted Say left, Mr Porter was promoted CO. Also Pilot Officer Clayton.

NCO's were Warrant Officer ' Ned' Kelly, Sgt. Eddie Morris, Cpl. Keith Borein, who`s younger brother also joined the Squadron.

Headmaster H.A.T.Simmonds, commanded the unit at one point. When he left, the Flight was taken over by Mr L.J.Wastell, Secretary of the Old Boys Association, and owner of Wastell's bookshop in Tottenham High Road. |His employees were mostly Old Grammarians. Mr Cooper was also an officer in the A.T.C. after he had returned from War service.

Members who were in the squadron were John and Alan Stoddart, Lester Lovelock, Tom Digby, Ron

Segall, Ernest Searle, Don Owen, Brian Humphries and Philip "Stan" Barker, Ian Hunter, John Beckford Billy Hawkins and Mike Tindall

Ron Segall went on from being a Flight Sergeant in the Squadron to becoming a civilian instructor for several years whilst I was at college and was elevated to the lofty heights of sharing and using the Officers Mess!

1951 In the Summer 1951 edition of `The Somerset` magazine Flight sergeant R.F. Dunhill told that the ATC were looking forward to the late summer camp, which was to be held at RAF Thorney. They were also going to be looking back on a "Highly successful year". A year which ended decisively when the ATC won both the Closed Unit Athletics Championships and the Camp Sports.

The Summer camp was a great success mainly because RAF Oakington was the first operational aerodrome that the unit had visited.

Cpl Martin won an ATC Flying scholarship which enabled him to be trained by the RAF Auxiliary pilots up to solo standard

Sgt. Emmans was promoted to Flight Sergeant; Cpl. Geis promoted to Sergeant and Cadets Jones, Martin, Povey and Nicholas to Corporals.

The squadron went on an annual camp to an RAF airfield. Camps included RAF Wattisham in Suffolk and RAF Cardington, Bedfordshire, RAF Colerne (1967) and RAF Lindholme, A Vulcan bomber base (1968). A visit to the annual camp at RAF West Malling, culminated in farce when when Cpl Kendal's tent burned down.

On November 3rd 1956, former Cadet Albert Edward (Ted) Sheehan was sadly killed at Suez. His aircraft - a Venom FB1 (Serial No. WR505) was either shot down or crashed whilst on a low level attack sortie. Ted Sheehan was a temporary replacement to Number 8 Squadron who had ferried a Venom to Cyprus from RAF Valley.

His aircraft was one of a formation of four who had set out at 5.10am. Having completed an armed reconnaissance between El Kantara and Ismailia they set off to make a planned strike on Abu Sueir. As the skimmed the sand dunes at 30 feet Ted Sheehans plane suddenly cart-wheeled across the ground, shedding fragments as it went.

One of the other pilots in the formation was Flying Officer Bryn Jones, who sated "We turned round at the lakes and came up along the west side of the road, looking for suitable targets. We flew as low as possible, perhaps even ten feet above the sand dunes, to avoid the flak. I was flying No. 2 to Ted Sheehan - we were parallel - when we ran into lots of flak. every time there was a near burst over the cockpit one tended to duck and drop a bit lower! Suddenly I saw a flash beside me, and a ball of flames with the silhouette of a Venom turning over and over. I called Doug (Our leader) over the R/T as i could not see him and he climbed to 500 feet, thereby placing himself in grave danger, until i was able to catch up."

It was not known if Flt Lt Sheehan`s aircraft had inadvertently struck the ground or had been hit by ground fire.

"It was normal for Squadrons in peacetime not to have the full compliment of pilots, pilot to aircraft ratio was low. Ted Sheehan, with Venom experience in Germany (I was with him on 123 Wing at Wunsdorf from 1952 to 1954) was sent to Akrotiri as a war reinforcement pilot. He had no experience of ultra-low flying over the featureless terrain of the desert."
He had only been married seven weeks at the time of his loss. He had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

TGS Old Boy Colin Bailey remembers " I was a close friend of Edward Sheehan. He was a Flight Lt. of No 4 Sqdn. RAF based at Valley North Wales flying Vampires. When the conflict erupted in the summer of 1956, I met Ted for dinner at RAF Tangmere on his last night in England, when I and another former TGS pupil Graham Prior, had been mobilised as members of the 604 Sqdn R.Aux.A.F. and were also en-route to the conflict. I believe that Ted was the only RAF member to die from enemy action during the conflict".

We used to go the either North Weald - where we did some 0.303" rifle shooting - or Hendon on a Sunday morning to get some flying experience. We also went to Hendon every year to compete in the ATC aircraft recognition competition, in which we normally did quite well.

The Squadron attended the Remembrance Day Parade at the War memorial, High Cross, Tottenham, along with 233 Sqd Army Cadet Force, I can't remember where in Tottenham they were based may have been the TA Centre? opposite the Spurs ground, we used to go and use their indoor 25yd range from time to time.

In 1966 the squadron was presented with the `Manners-Barret` trophy which will be awarded annually to the most efficient squadron in the Middlesex Wing. There were 28 Squadrons in the Wing.

Also in 1966, the ATC held camps at RAF Chivenor, and also RAF Geilenkirchen in Germany.

1571 Squadron was based at Tottenham Grammar and the Somerset Schools and was founded in 1942 . When the school shut in 1988 and the building was demolished the squadron became homeless.

They moved from pillar to post, and it seems have lost all of their history, including cups, sheilds, photographs awards etc, as they had no where to store them during these moves. At one point their HQ was a Sunday car boot sale.
They are currently based at Huxley House, next to Aylward School, in Silver Street N18, where they have been since 1997. They have also renamed, and have now become Aylward Squadron.

This is the current Squadron crest. It is used on all correspondence as opposed to the standard ATC one as it reflects the Squadrons `highly mobile history`.

There is some script as to what the various parts of the crest represent, and hopefully some old boys can come up with what they mean.

My name is Flight Lieutenant Paul Thomson-Clark and I took command of 1571 (Aylward) Squadron on 15 April 2002 vice Flight Lieutenant Andy Bovingdon who has moved onto pastures new.

You all may be aware that this year is the 50th anniversary of the founding of 1571 (Tottenham Grammar School) Squadron, Air Training Corps. As such we will be holding a number of events to celebrate this historic year.

While being a newcomer to the squadron, I am very keen to maintain the historical link that binds TGS and 1571 Squadron together and any help that you can offer in maintaining and indeed strengthening this link would be greatly appreciated. I am also on the look out for old photos (particularly of cadets at annual camp) as over recent years and recent relocations the squadron has lost many of it's historical artefacts. All photos will be returned and I note with interest those on your website.

A dinner to celebrate the 60th Anniversary is taking place in the autumn and I will forward the date to you in due course so that any ex-cadets can purchase tickets.

Thank you for your time. I hope that we can work together for the mutual benefit of both TGS old boys and girls as well as 1571 Squadron.

Paul Thomson-Clark,
Flight Lieutenant Officer - Commanding,
Air Training (1571 Aylward) Squadron,
Huxley House,
285 Silver Street,
Edmonton, London,
N18 1NQ