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53junior. However, in 1947 the Old Cranwellians Association commissioned a survey of their number which was published in the College Journal.13 Some 420 pre-war flight cadets were still serving. Two were air vice-marshals, 45 were air commodores (out of 88 pilots listed as such in the Air Force List of the time), the majority were group captains and wing commanders, and a few had not progressed beyond flight lieutenant.14 The interesting statistic is that over 50% of the serving air commodore pilots were former flight cadets and, as the early Cold War progressed, this was to extend throughout the Air Officer ranks. From 1956 to 2006 eight of the fifteen Chiefs of the Air Staff were former flight cadets, with four of them holding consecutive office from 1992 to 2006. This is not surprising as the wartime and national service generations were retired by the early 1990s, and there were few graduate entrants in proportion to flight cadets. However, these four Chiefs of the Air Staff, Air Chf Mshls Sir Michael Graydon (76 Entry), Sir Richard Johns (76 Entry), Sir Peter Squire (89 Entry) and Marking the end of an era, Air Chf Mshl Sir Dennis Spotswood, CAS and a former Commandant, reviewing the Passing-Out Parade of 101 Entry, the last of the traditional Flight Cadet intakes.

