Page 135 - The Wish Stream Year of 2022

dens and grass had been developed. The old huts were then subsequently demolished. The new College was built with cadet accommoda- tion around quadrangles to mirror Britain’s pres- tigious old universities. College also incorporates an officers’ mess, library, cadet dining room and training rooms.
RAF Cranwell’s College Hall is an impressive landmark on the flat Lincolnshire landscape with the top of the tower being visible for miles around. In the 1950s, the peal of bells was added to College Hall. The bells were given by Shell Petroleum Company and play the retreat each evening as the ensign is lowered, in hon- our of the 477 former Cadets who were killed in action during World War II. Specific features of interest in College Hall are:
The Rotunda. Officer Cadets are forbidden to walk on the carpet in the Rotunda until the day they graduate as commissioned officers in the RAF. This is something of a right of passage in the RAF, similar to commissioning Sandhurst Cadets marching up the Old College steps at the end of their passing-out parade.
Founders Gallery. This contains the portraits of the four men considered as founding fathers
of the Royal Air Force, being Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Hugh Trenchard, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Charles Longcroft (Cranwell’s first Commandant and responsible for overseeing the founding and development of the College) and Sir Winston Churchill (Secretary of State for Air 1919-1920 who originally persuaded the Prime Minister that the RAF should exist as a separate independent service).
The Dining Room. Officer Cadets take all meals in the Dining Room which is also used for for- mal functions such as Dining in Nights. The RAF Cranwell Queen’s Colours are also displayed there, held by a large bronze eagle presented by Sir Phillip Sassoon in 1933 when he was Secre- tary of State for Air.
The Library and TE Lawrence Room. On the top floor is the College Library, the third largest Air Power library in the world. It is open to the public by appointment. The ‘Lawrence Room’ is named after Col TE Lawrence (famous as ‘Law- rence of Arabia’) who, stationed at RAF Cranwell as AC2 TE Shaw (1925-1926), wrote ‘Revolt in the Desert’ there.
Second World War
As with RMC Sandhurst and RMA Woolwich, training of regular officer cadets at RAFC Cran- well ceased during the Second World War and instead it trained wartime pilots. In line with other RAF airfields, the runways were camouflaged, as was the College Hall tower. The existence of Cranwell was known to German High Command evidenced by Luftwaffe reconnaissance photos from 1941, but it was never attacked as Herman Goering (CinC of the Luftwaffe) wanted Cranwell as his HQ when they won the war! The only war- time damage was caused when a British Whit- ley bomber crashed into the western end, sadly killing the three crew and causing significant damage.
Second half of the 20th Century
In 1947, the RAF Technical College was opened at Henlow in Bedfordshire with the intention of training technical and engineering officers for the RAF, but this was relatively short-lived and amalgamated with the RAF College Cranwell in 1965. There had been concerns within the Air Council that the two institutions were producing (undesirably) noticeably different kinds of RAF officer, and also that running both institutions was unnecessarily costly.
HISTORICAL 133