East Midlands UAS Page

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EMUAS History
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The Unit was formed as Nottingham University Air Squadron on 26th February 1941 and during the war years was actively engaged in pre-entry training of students for the Royal Air Force.

The Squadron had only one Tiger Moth for air experience flying until early 1946, nevertheless during the war some 216 members entered the Royal Air Force as Aircrew, 19 the Fleet Air Arm and 15 the Technical Branch.

In 1947, when the Royal Air Force Reserve was re-introduced, the Squadron was eventually equipped with five Tiger Moth aircraft but these were replaced by Chipmunks in June 1951.

During the late 1940's the squadron flew 2 Oxford aircraft for a short time, and between October 1952 and April 1957 a Harvard was also used. Throughout its fifty year history the Squadron has been associated with RAF Newton who assumed parenting responsibilities on 16 July 1941. In November 1967 the Squadron officially became East Midlands Universities Air Squadron in recognition of the support and recruitment of cadets from the Universities of Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham. This was later expanded to include students from then Nottingham and Leicester Polytechnics.

In 1974, after almost 30 years of service, the Chipmunks were replaced by five Scottish Aviation Bulldogs.

The Squadron Badge was granted by HRH King George VI in February 1947. It emphasizes the association with Nottingham and thereby Robin Hood. The "Quiver Full of Arrows" is not only symbolic of Nottingham but "Strength in Reserve" of the Squadron motto.

EMUAS 1999 has some 70 Students between 5 Qualified Flying Instructors. We fly from RAF Newton East of Nottingham. As you may have seen above this has been our home since the Squadrons birth. RAF Newton is the last remaining RAF grass airfield with an active Squadron as its home.

Life in any Military organisation is different to anything you will get in any other walk of life. Although much of your time will be spent at University, you will find that the rest of your time can be spent at UAS. So what can you expect?. You will be given the usual brief and all your kit. Some Ł1200 pounds worth. Flying suits, flying jacket, long johns, books, No.1's, No.3's it's all mind boggling, but you very soon get the hang of it. The most important folders you are given are the syllabus folders and your FRC's ( Flight Reference Cards ) which is ironic since you do not routinely use them in-flight.

From the outset learning to carry out your checks from memory is the first hurdle. This is standard for any military flying and you soon realise why. If you've flown before and filtered through an open check list, enjoy it whilst it lasts.

You will follow a standard 87 Hour course incorporating many aspects of flying. If you have done a Flying Scholarship before, the handling will be useful, but you will still find the flying very challenging and extremely rewarding even in the early stages. Later on you can enjoy aerobatics, instrument flying and finally medium and low level navigation and finally formation flying.

Summer Camp is the finale to your years flying. Most UAS' fly to other RAF Stations to fly from there but here at EMUAS we believe that the time can be best used at home in Newton. The thinking behind this is that you can be almost guaranteed more flying, which is essentially why most of us are here.

Of course not everyone joins EMUAS as pilots. There are structured navigators courses and soon there will be structured courses for potential ground branch officers.

There are also Summer Vacation Attachments (SVA's) where you will be posted to a RAF Station of your choice and shadow a serving RAF Officer in your area of interest ( usually GD Pilot) but often it also serves as real taster for potential ground branches into their area of interest. Here we can see James and Sam enjoying a hot cup of coffee after being winched from a cold Loch in Scotland.