Rupert de la Bère, the flight cadets, and flight-literary culture at RAF Cadet College Cranwell, 1921-1938

<p dir="ltr">This study is a new cultural history of the RAF Cadet College Cranwell in Lincolnshire. It provides new insight into the early life and work of the College, offering fresh and alternative perspective on the nature of the flight-cadet education and formation developed there by the RAF. It also brings recognition to the Cranwellian flight-literary culture, notably its poetry, produced in the 1920s and 1930s. The thesis has been achieved by bringing attention to the role of Rupert de la Bère, the College periodical, and to the literary output produced by the flight cadets and others associated with the College. Captain de la Bère was Professor of English and History at the College, 1921-1938. Yet little is known about him. This study establishes his importance. Alongside teaching, he was Librarian and Editor of the periodical. This publication, largely untapped to date, serves as the principal primary source. De la Bère’s longevity in post and his dedication to working closely with the cadets on the content, ensured that it became a unique artefact. It is an essential source through which to view the interwar cadet experience. De la Bère’s own contributions were diverse. He arrived at Cranwell as a published but unknown poet. He encouraged the production of diverse content for the periodical and compiled two flight anthologies. The second, Icarus, represented an important contribution to the development of twentieth-century flight poetry. Through the lens of de la Bère, Cranwell, and the College’s literature, the research also achieves wider relevance and resonance. It brings new perspective to established understandings of RAF organisational culture, prevailing cultural constructions of the flyer, and more general themes of class, youth, and masculinity in the period. Furthermore, the study makes an especially distinctive and original contribution to characterising and substantiating the ascendence of flight-literary culture.</p>