1224 (Wharfedale) Squadron, Air Training Corps (ATC) is celebrating 80 years of providing young people in the Ilkley area with training and experiences they wouldn’t get anywhere else. The Squadron was formed as 1224 (Ilkley) Squadron on March 7,1941, and paraded for the first time at Ilkley Grammar School a week later under the command of Flight Lieutenant Frank Dixon Marshall, a veteran of the First World War who had served with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. He would later be made an MBE and become the High Sheriff of Yorkshire. The ATC was formed with the intention of training young men in anticipation of them joining the Royal Air Force, or another service, and this is what many of the cadets of 1224 Squadron did.