- Canon Jack Armstrong – former ADCC and ATC cadet with 131 (City of Newcastle) Sqn. Canon Armstrong served a double spell as Corps Chaplain in addition to serving as squadron, wing and regional chaplains variously.
- Danny Blanchflower – the famous Tottenham Hotspur and Northern Ireland footballer, was a cadet on 1137 (East Belfast) Squadron
- Johanne Brekke – Welsh Commonwealth Games Gold medalist at Manchester in 2002, winning the women’s 50m rifle prone pairs competition. In 2006 and 2010 Jo also won a Bronze medal for the women’s 50m rifle prone at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and Delhi, India.
- Richard Burton – Actor, famous for his performances in almost 100 films and theatre productions
- Geoff Capes – Olympic Shot-putter, weightlifter and two-time winner of ‘The World’s Strongest Man’
- Linford Christie OBE – 1992 Olympic Gold medalist, World champion runner and one of the most decorated British male athletes of all time
- John Conteh – World light-heavyweight champion boxer and Commonwealth Games gold medallist
- Timothy Dalton – Actor, best known for playing James Bond 007
- Len Deighton – Military historian and author of many bestselling spy novels, including The IPCRESS File
- Tom Fletcher – Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter with double Platinum selling Pop Band McFly, who’s hits include “All About You”, “Obviously”, “Star Girl” and “Shine a light.” The band became the youngest since The Beatles to have an album debut at number 1.
- Dr Michael Foale – NASA Astronaut, who holds the cumulative-time-in-space record for a UK citizen
- Robson Green – Actor (Casualty, Wire in the Blood) & TV presenter (Robson Green Extreme Fishing)
- James Hickman – British Five-time World Champion Swimmer
- Brian Jones – Record breaking balloonist who made the first successful uninterrupted circumnavigation of the world
- Sir Patrick Moore – Astronomer and author, known for his long-running TV series The Sky at Night
- Michael Nicholson OBE – Senior foreign news reporter for ITN
- Gary Numan – Musician and aviator, best known for his often-sampled number one hit single Cars
- Sir Paul Nurse – Winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his research into the life cycle of cells
- Chris Ryan – Special Air Service (SAS) operative turned author, who has now written more than 30 titles. Ryan kindly gave an interview to cadets for Air Cadet magazine in late 2010.
- John Sherwood – A former 1179 (Read School) Squadron cadet, John was an Olympic medallist at the Mexico Games in 1968
- Alan Sillitoe – Late author of over 40 books, including classics such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
- Laura Trevelyan – BBC journalist, reporting on the activity of the United Nations in New York
- Rory Underwood MBE – RAF pilot and record-breaking England rugby union player
- Will Whitehorn – President of Virgin Galactic, a company which plans to offer space tourism flights to the paying public
- Andy Wilson – Famous Chelsea & Scottish International football star – who did much to build up soccer in the ATC.
It goes without saying that many successful RAF personnel started as Air Cadets – including some of our most senior officers. But after years of fun, travel and flying with us, many people have gone on to be the top of their game in very different walks of life. From actors to astronauts, athletes to pop stars, writers to scientists, here are just a few. Who knows, in the future maybe you could be joining them!