Featured Squadron of the Month

There are many facts about the Squadron, which are well documented, but the true meaning of being a Cadet is best summed up by the recollections of cadets themselves. The following is an excerpt from Ian Wyndlow, who was a 257 Parallel Squadron Cadet from 1979 to 1982. Ian earned his power and glider licences through the Air Cadet program: Ian recalls:

“My memories are of the seasonal “fam” (familiarization) flights, where we actually went gliding at the Nanaimo airport and got to take turns as a passenger in the tow plane. And of course, the summer camps provided life-long memories. Enduring the first year of summer “basic training” where we learned to make a bed so tightly that a quarter would bounce off of the sheets, we learned to spit-shine our shoes until they gleamed, learned to iron straight creases in shirt sleeves and pant legs, using soap in the inside to make the seams extra- crisp. Getting into mischief and having to stand in a half-crouch position against the wall until we understood the importance of going to bed quietly. All these lessons were lessons in discipline and taking pride in a job well done.

Ladysmith’s CO, Captain Brown would give us a yearly sermon at annual inspection about not being a “Chicken Shit squadron” and would drive home the theme of the benefits of discipline each year. They were words of wisdom and experience, that I have found myself paraphrasing from time to time on our 11-year-old.

Other memories of summer camps were the friendships that developed during time-off – such as the time we procured inner tubes from a gas station in Princeton one weekend and walked up stream along the side of the road for miles before floating back down the river. Summer hailstorms, my first solo in a glider when I gained 2000′ in altitude after releasing from the tow plane and found myself literally soaring with the eagles in a thermal. I have a favourite photo of my dad and I in a Cessna 152 after our first flight together, with me piloting. I had heard stories of him flying over to Richmond to visit my mom and having to be back to the farm in Yellow Point in time to milk the cows. I was thinking of that when I circled over the farmhouse and saw my parents come out to wave as I flew my first cross-country flight from Victoria to Nanaimo, to Tofino and back, in 1982.

The CO, Captain Brown would host Christmas parties on the second floor of the building he owned, above the old library. He had coin operated pinball machines and would leave the door of the coin mechanism open for us to be able to play over and over with the same quarter. (“Twister” was also a very popular game at those parties, when enough girls would agree to play!)

Another highlight of being in Ladysmith Air Cadets was the shooting range in the basement of the Aggie Hall, and the WW II vintage “Ansel” single firing .22 calibre rifles we practiced on. We would form-up upstairs and then march down the back of the hall and round the stairs under the foundation of the hall, where old mattresses were set up on a plywood platform and we would get issued our little box of .22 shells and a page with about 10 targets on it. After the safety rules were explained, we would scramble, half crouching along the dirt that had been scooped out deeper in areas and mounded up in others to form passageways to the far end of the building’s crawl space, where we hung our targets, amongst massive pieces of wood that were literally riddled with thousands of rounds of lead. We would then scramble back to the mattresses and get ready to pick up our guns, load, aim and squeeze off each of our 10 shots. When we eventually got good enough to form a team and go to Powell River for the target competition, it was another overnight adventure. In the weeks preceding the contest somehow some real target rifles appeared, and we actually got to practice steadily with them, and use a field scope to check our firing pattern, thus avoiding the scramble back and forth through the mounds of dirt, while trying not to scuff up our boots and uniforms too much. I kept my best target and have it somewhere in a box of memories in storage.”

In 2023 the Squadron commemorated its 80th Anniversary with a very special Annual Ceremonial Review. The ceremony was well attended with Lieutenant Commander Darryll Dudley, CD as the Reviewing Officer. A commemorative coin was struck, and a special Event Program was produced.

Nowadays. Ladysmith Cadets enjoy a wide variety of activities such as aviation and flight training, range, sports, first aid training, survival camping and community service. Cadets learn leadership, responsibility, effective speaking, and travel throughout the province and nationally, attending Summer Training Camps and in staff positions.

Commanding Officers: