The inaugural course for NATO’s Joint Air Power Competence Centre (JAPCC) started on 12th May 14.  

Four subject matter experts from the JAPCC travelled to Lincoln from their base in Germany for the start of a nine week course.  Lieutenant Colonel Ed Wijninga from the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Gremez from the Belgian Air Force, Major Selcuk Kazan of the Turkish Air Force and Major Dariusz Madrzejewski of the Polish Armed Forces spent the week at the University of Lincoln with staff from the Military Education Group.

The course members and staff were given a VIP visit to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) at RAF Coningsby where they got to see a display given by the Mk IIa Spitfire.  This Spitfire is the oldest airworthy Spitfire in the world and the only Spitfire still flying to have actually fought in the Battle of Britain.

The Officer Commanding BBMF, Squadron Leader Duncan Mason and Flight Lieutenant ‘Parky’ Parkinson, the only two full time pilots on the Memorial Flight, took time out from their busy day to speak to the course and to show them around the cockpit of the Spitfire.

The Enhancing Research Skills short course includes a one week residential phase at Lincoln, followed by an eight week distance learning phase.  With dedicated academic support from MEG staff, course members will write paper on a defence related subject.  Once complete, the papers will be published in the JAPCC Journal.