Royal Air Force College Cranwell

The Royal Air Force College stands on the former naval airfield at Cranwell in Lincolnshire. Established in 1919, it is the world’s first air academy and houses several training units: the Officer Training Academy, the Aviator Training Academy, the Tedder Academy of Leadership, the Robson Academy of Resilience and No. 6 Flying Training School. Its motto, Superna Petimus, expresses the pursuit of excellence in air power. The College replaced temporary wooden huts with a grand neo-classical College Hall in the 1930s, designed with echoes of Christopher Wren’s Chelsea Hospital. A wide parade ground and the circular grass area called ‘The Orange’ lie in front of the Hall, where cadets once drilled on orange gravel paths. The College’s history is marked by key figures and decisive moments. Commodore Godfrey Paine opened the naval flying school here in 1916, later misidentified as HMS Daedalus because naval personnel were carried on the books of a moored hulk. After the Royal Air Force formed in 1918, Chief of the Air Staff Sir Hugh Trenchard chose Cranwell for the new academy, believing its isolation would foster discipline and economy. In 1929 Cadet William McKechnie saved a fellow student from a burning aircraft and received the Empire Gallantry Medal. Architect James West’s College Hall, completed in 1933, became the main training site and was opened by the Prince of Wales the following year. Visitors find College Hall, a Grade II listed building of rustic and moulded brick with an 800-foot frontage. Inside, the College Memorial Chapel, established in 1952 and later moved to the nearby Church of St Michael and All Angels, honours those who served. Whittle Hall, opened in 1962 by Sir Frank Whittle, supports academic instruction alongside modern flying training schools. The parade ground and ‘The Orange’ remain central to ceremonial life, while the surrounding airfield hosts No. 6 Flying Training School and other units. The College’s global legacy is visible in its graduates, who have come from Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Pakistan and beyond.