Warrant officer who has trained hundreds of 494 (Stansted Airport) Squadron air cadets flies off into retirement
Air cadets past and present bid a fond farewell to their warrant officer at 494 (Stansted Airport) Squadron of the Air Training Corps (ATC).
Around 50 colleagues, family and friends held a retirement party on the final parade night before Christmas for Charles Riley, who has stepped down after 23 years. During this time he has helped to train hundreds of youngsters.
Well wishes were sent from as far away as Australia by former cadets who wanted to thank him for his service.
Charles, a keen modeller, was presented with a large-scale model of the F-15E Strike Eagle by commanding officer Lauren Reeks and squadron chairman Michael Dodds, along with a print of the same aircraft, which is operated by 494 (Fighter Squadron) United States Air Force, based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
"He was quite touched by it all," said Mr Dodds. "He sent me a photo the following day and the picture was already up on the wall. He then sent me a subsequent photo of the model and the level of detail he'd put into it was phenomenal!
"He had been with us for 23 years and was the officer in charge of training and discipline of the cadets.
"One of his previous commanding officers sent him a message from Australia while another one, who is now actually in the RAF as a regular officer, said that he must have seen hundreds, if not a thousand, cadets pass through the squadron over the years.
"He is held in very high regard and we got lots of messages from past cadets who remembered him and commented what a good job he'd done for them over the years."
Charles joined the squadron in 2000. He went on to become a sergeant and then a warrant officer. His replacement is one of the other warrant officers, Claire Callaghan.
The ATC is a youth organisation with cadets aged 13 to 18 which encourages those with an interest in aviation.
The 494 squadron number refers to the American bomber unit stationed at the former Stansted airfield during the Second World War.
