Birmingham Mail reporter Chris Henwood sampled life as an air cadet by taking part in the daredevil activity of aerobatics at Cosford's Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering. This is his report.

ALL was fine before a cadet who could only have been about 12 was sick right in front of the tiny plane he had gingerly climbed out of.

An aerobatics session in a two-seater RAF training plane held no fear for me – until then.

“We give everybody sick bags but it’s very rare for anybody to need one,” my vastly experienced pilot, Flight Lieutenant Dave Fowler, assured me.

Before I knew it, I was in the cockpit of our 180-hp Grob G 115 and all Dave’s talk turned to seemingly endless checks over his radio – tapping dials and pressing buttons dotted everywhere.

It was the size of the plane that took me by surprise.

It was so compact I felt nervous that the slightest movement would knock a key instrument and send us plummeting to our doom.

The plane felt shaky and unsteady as we took off, but strangely, it felt safer than larger airplanes. It felt more mechanical and so manageable.

Airborne, we headed away from the runway and Dave briefed me on some of the manoeuvres we were about to undertake. First would be a loop and then some barrel rolls – pulling up and then turning left or right as we entered the loop and rolled over. My stomach sank and I was forced down into my seat as Dave pulled his stick back and we “pulled three Gs.”