Winning the Royal Air Squadron Trophy (RAST) is the highest achievement a Royal Air Force Section of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF(RAF)) can earn. The finals of 2026’s competition took place at RAF Wittering on Sunday 21 June 26, with Loughborough Grammar School retaining the top spot.
After regional heats, 11 teams had earned their places in the finals and travelled from far and wide to RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire to compete for this year’s title. The competition consisted of six different stands to test a range of the cadets’ skills and knowledge, they were; Space, a Command Task, Drill, First Aid, Cyber and Shooting. The First Aid being particularly dramatic combining sound effects, dramatic acting by the “casualties” plus the more usual wound make-up.
The event took place during a hot weather warning and so uniform restrictions were relaxed to account for that and adjustments made across the event for the comfort of cadets and staff.
When the event was over the winner, by a comfortable margin, was Loughborough Grammar School, winning the prestigious trophy for the third year in a row. Second place was taken by King’s School, Worcester who closely beat Reading School into third place.
Flt Lt Joanne Smith RAFAC is Officer Commanding, Loughborough School’s CCF(RAF) Section, she was almost speechless after the team’s success, she said that “with the cadets having just finished their A Levels and GCSEs it shows such determination by the team especially as today was the first time that we got all the team together and then to win for the third year in a row!” Cadet Warrant Officer Samuel Symes was the Loughborough team leader in one of his last major events before heading off to Oxford University said “This is our third consecutive win at RAST and it's safe to say a real pleasure to go out of my CCF career like this, the team was fantastic and I am so proud of them all”.
Organising the whole day was Sqn Ldr Catherine Lupton RAFAC who is the RAST Project Officer at HQ Air Cadets. She said, "we have had 11 schools here today at RAF Wittering and they have all performed absolutely amazingly. I must thank all those at RAF Wittering for allowing the competition to take place here.”
Principal guest was Commandant Air Cadets, Air Commodore Al Lewis who added “while I have been going around I have seen some fantastic school preparations and the standard of the drill competition was absolutely top draw. I extend my thanks to RAF Wittering for hosting us again this year and to the staff of the Air Cadet training facility here on the Station.