Question? Brits from the sky

[TankBuster]

Can anyone pass some info on ww-2 british paratroops my way, i know their role in d-day but not musch else except at Arnehem, and Niemegean. Thankssal;

 

[Bundu Basher]

Tankbuster,

For a brief outline of paratroopers in the second world war, click here

For a good historical look at British Airborne troops, click here

For the The British Army Parachute Regiment website, click here

Hopefully a bit of help!

 

[TankBuster]

Huge help thank Bandu!sal;

 

[Drone_pilot]

Don't forget that only two things fall out of the sky paras and bird s**t, but only one of them's anyuse

With an appology to any airborn solaf sal;

 

[TankBuster]

hey nice joke drone pilot....u a real drone pilot???

 

[Bundu Basher]

Don't forget that only two things fall out of the sky paras and bird s**t, but only one of them's anyuse

Rather have bird s**t land on you than a para!

 

[Bombardier]

My dad was in 3 para around the time of the suez crisis, I always pull his leg by saying "Paras are living proof s**t can fly" winds him up a treat.
Joking aside, British Paras are Top Notch

 

[Matzos]

Only Para's would jump out of a serviceable airplane solaf

 

[Advisor]

Don't forget that only two things fall out of the sky paras and bird s**t, but only one of them's anyuse

With an appology to any airborn solaf sal;

Which one???? blah, blah,

 

[Frisco-Kid]

Don't forget that only two things fall out of the sky paras and bird s**t, but only one of them's anyuse

With an appology to any airborn solaf sal;

When I was in it was "Fools and bird s**t." To which we would respond with 'And the only thing that stays on the ground is chicken s**t." Or with a punch if it hadn't been said with a smile box; . para;

 

[Frisco-Kid]

Only Para's would jump out of a serviceable airplane solaf

I don't know, Matzos. I can recall jumping out of a couple that should have been scrapped years ago and I was glad to be out of.

 

[Matzos]

Joking aside, British Paras are Top Notch

I think anyone who does that task is Top Notch sal;

 

[airborne]

Belated catch up

Actually lads, parachuting is nothing, even women and young people do it for charity.

However it's what you do after the planes have gone and you find yourself in the wrong place, outnumbered and wondering why you didn't listen to your Mother after all !!!

By the way, I was horrified to find out that Australian Paratroopers do NOT have a Selection Course ! When you enlist you tick the box, "would be OK to parachute" When there's a vacancy, off you go to Parachute school, 8 jumps and you're in.
Unbelievable

Mike

 

[Frisco-Kid]

I went through Jump school at Ft. Benning, GA, in MAY66. I was in 42nd Company, 23rd class. It was a hard 3wks. long, consisting of Ground Week, Tower Week, and Jump Week.

Ground Week is alot of PT, getting yelled at, dropped for push ups for every little infraction [real or imagined] running EVERYWHERE, and in between they're teaching you stuff. One of the first things they start teaching you is how to do a PLF [Parachute Landing Fall]. In the next 3 weeks, it'll seem like you've done thousands of these. Do PT. You'll learn about the T-10 parachutes, run, how to get into the harness properly, do pushups, be suspended by the harness and taught how to work the risers to control the chute, get yelled at and do push ups. Did I say we ran EVERYWHERE? Alot of people drop out the first week for various reasons. Some decide this isn't for them after all; some can't hang with the PT; some can't take the harrassment. Seeing the EXTENSIVE ration of sh-t the quitters are given is enough to keep me going. They harrassed these guys until they left for their next duty.

Tower Week is still alot of PT, running, more PLFs, and getting yelled at, but the training starts taking on a more serious and dangerous face. You're introduced to the 34' tower. This is a room that sits on the top of a tower. You get to it by climbing about 4 flights of stairs and enter it through the floor. It has a door on each side. It's supposed to be a facsimile of a plane fusilage. The purpose here is to teach you how to exit the door of a plane, with body posture being the important thing. When you exit the door, you're in a harness that slides down a cable on a pulley. You're stopped at the bottom, where you're taken out of the harness and your exit is graded. You keep doing it until you get it right. The 34' tower is where there's going to be somemore dropouts. When you stand in the door, instead of 34' it looks like 200'. An instructor on the ground asks you your number. You yell it out to him. If you didn't look down at him when you answered, he'll ask you again until you do. I saw 3 guys walk back down.

The 250' tower has 4 arms at the top. Basically, you're hauled to the top in an open parachute and dropped from the end of one of the arms. Usually, they only use 3, or sometimes 2, of the arms at a time. That depends on which direction the wind is blowing. They don't want you being blown into the tower. This is to give you the feeling of actually floating down in a parachute, doing a PLF, and collapsing and gathering your chute.

The 3rd week is Jump Week. The PT has slacked up abit. I think I remember getting in another hour of sleep. We make 2 jumps on monday, 2 jumps on Tuesday and on Wednesday the last jump is an equipment jump [weapon,pack,etc.] On Friday they pin the basic Parachute Wings on and you are officially a Paratrooper. On my jumps, I jumped 3 C-130s and 2 C-119s. Completeing Jump School has always been one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.

 

[GunBunnyInaMAB]

Well, better you than me. Rappelling out of helicopters was my insanity of choice!! AIR ASSAULT. I used to have a horrific fear of heights. My first time rappelling was over a cliff at Fort Lenard Wood, (Fort 'Lost in the Woods' ). I got a death grip on the rope 200 feet in the air, and it took the instructor 2 hours to convince me that I wasn't going to be allowed to come back up! But once I did the jump, I feel in love with it. They had to order me to quit jumping off that cliff!!

 

[Frisco-Kid]

Well, better you than me. Rappelling out of helicopters was my insanity of choice!! AIR ASSAULT. I used to have a horrific fear of heights. My first time rappelling was over a cliff at Fort Lenard Wood, (Fort 'Lost in the Woods' ). I got a death grip on the rope 200 feet in the air, and it took the instructor 2 hours to convince me that I wasn't going to be allowed to come back up! But once I did the jump, I feel in love with it. They had to order me to quit jumping off that cliff!!

So, you were a "Dope-On-A-Rope" solaf, which is what Airborne calls Air Assault. I'm kidding, of course. I'm not sure I could have climbed down a rope suspended from a helicopter, especially under fire. It was bad enough going into hot LZ's sitting in the damned things. While at Ft. Bragg with the 82nd I learned how to jump out of Chinooks. We just stepped off the tailgate. The prop blast was pretty scary at first.

The 101st started making the transition from an Airborne unit to Airmobile, and eventually to Air Assault, in '68. When I served with them in VN, JUN66-JUN67, it was just the 1st Bde, consisting of 1/327, 2/327, and 2/502nd. After the rest of the division came over from Ft. Campbell in late '67, many of the replacements that started to come into the 101st were Legs [non-Airborne qualified]. I've always been proud of the fact that I served with the 101st the last time they fought a foreign foe as an all-paratrooper unit.

The Air Assault school at Ft. Campbell, KY, home of the 101st Airborne, is named after CSM Walter Sabalauski. He was my First Sergeant in VN during part of my time there with the 101st. I stood at attention while he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions at Dak To in mid-'66.

Thank you for your service, GunBunny.

 

[Jaimee76]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[John A Silkstone]

While on basic training at Kimmle camp, in North Wales, UK in 1956, I volunteered for the paratroopers. I had to pass a fitness test, which fortunately I managed to do. A week later, the group of us who had passed the physical had to attend a medical. After the examination, another chap and myself where informed that we had a slight heart murmur, and that we would not be allowed to jump from aeroplanes. I was very disappointed to say the least. Years later, I wrote this poem.


WHERE WARM THERMALS FLOW

Down in the hollow that’s known as The Dell
The ash and the oak are blooming in spring.
Forest floor painted with nature’s bluebell
While high in the branches, birds nest and sing.
Out of the nest there peeks a small fledgling
Not ready for flight though craving to go,
With wings open wide in blue skies soaring
To be in the air where warm thermals flow.

On terra firma where man has to dwell
Stands a young boy, who’s hoping and wishing,
To fly on high with a sleek Philomel
That’s turning and soaring, dipping and gliding.
Facing the sky where soft winds are whispering
He gazes in awe with his face all-aglow,
Feet rooted in clay eternally longing
To be in the air where warm thermals flow.

Descending through clouds he spinningly fell
The wind rushes past him loudly screaming,
With joy in his heart he lets out a yell
Plummeting downwards, no longer dreaming.
Akin to an albatross gliding on wing,
Beneath a white canopy he swings to and fro,
Drifting to earth he’s no longer speeding
To be in the air where warm thermals flow.

Like dandelions’ seeds, he’s parachuting
Floating on up-draughts above earth below,
Ambition at last blossomed this morning
To be in the air where warm thermals flow.

Philomel is an old English word for a Nightingale.


Silky

 

[Newman]

Hi,
Bombardier my cousins husband was with 3 Para during the Suez Crisis private James McDonald joined just after ww2 did 12 years had his photo taken by a newspaper in a dugout during the crisis was from Glasgow passed away last year RIP James.
Regards
Bill

 

[Bombardier]

Newman I believe the Suez crisis was a bad time for the Paras. Sorry to hear about James Mcdonald.