大象传媒

Life at Ringway was very relaxed compared with other camps I had been at, the instructors there were all R.A.F. personnel, but there was a small army presence providing Camp security. First thing that happened was a tour of the hangers where most of the ground training would take place, including the large room where parachutes were packed, and where we were given a demonstration by one of the WAAFs who did the packing, beneath a large notice suspended from the ceiling on which was written in large letters

鈥淩EMEMBER A MANS鈥� LIFE DEPENDS ON EVERY PARACHUTE YOU PACK鈥�.

After we left the packing room we were told the chute would be re-packed, as a precaution against being distracted whilst we were there. We were then split into groups of five, and allocated to an instructor, Officers and other ranks mixed, we were all trainees, I don鈥檛 remember any insignia of rank displayed by the instructors, but they most probably were sergeants or above, we referred to them by Christian names. One of the first lessons, was how to fall on landing, in the early days, apparently jumping off the back of a moving truck was the method used, but the amount of injuries sustained was counter productive, so training methods were changed and we started by standing on a training mat, feet and knees together, slightly bent, with the hands held head high as if grasping the lift-webs of a chute, with the elbows well tucked in and learning to drop and roll whilst keeping this body position, i.e. forward right, feet, right side of knee, thigh, across the back coming out on the left shoulder, this is difficult to describe, but the principle involved was to spread the shock over landing over as much of the body as possible. The same principle was involved whichever way one landed. When wearing a parachute, the wearer is not as it might appear, suspended by the shoulders, but is in fact seated as in a swing, the harness coming up behind, and in front of the arms, coming together above the shoulders, where some adjustment was possible, a strap across the back, and in front, a strap from either side of the harness, one with a lock, the 鈥淏ox鈥�, the other with a metal plate attached which had a half-inch hole in it to be slotted into the 鈥淏ox鈥�, two longer straps hanging from the bottom of the harness, each with the same metal attachment, which were threaded in front of the thighs, round behind the side straps and brought forward to be slotted into the 鈥淏ox鈥�. To unlock the box, the circular metal plate had to be turned clockwise, given a bash, and all would fall apart.

To get back training, after learning how to roll, the next lesson was how to roll on landing, by the way, we wore padded headgear whilst performing these operations, various methods were employed including an angled slide ending about 5 feet from the ground, and being swung in a parachute harness 5ft in the air, and the harness being released on a whim by the instructor, to make sure that we were ready at all times, then to practice jumping from the 鈥淔AN鈥�, a platform about 50ft up in the hanger roof, your harness being attached to a cable the other end of which was wound around a horizontal cylinder (like a domestic wringer) on the ends of which were vanes, or paddles, to restrict the rate of fall, there were 3 or 4 of these with the vanes set at varying angles, giving different speeds of descent, from nice and gentle to very fast, this was to enable practice exits, i.e. in an upright stance and landings, one enthusiastic bod held the exit position too long, landing upright, he must have suffered quite a jolt. Practice exits were also made through a hole in the floor of a raised deck, a sort of bottomless tub about 4ft in diameter, sitting on the edge of this hole with both legs dangling, exit was made by pushing the body slightly upwards and outwards to attain a position akin to standing to attention, gravity did the rest, the trick was, not to push too far forward and keep upright and so avoid banging ones head on the opposite of the hole, an action known as 鈥淩inging the bell鈥�, in reality, in a Whitley, there would be 10 jumpers, sitting on the floor, legs across the aircraft, there was just room if you were of average height, five in front of the exit, Nos1,3,5,7and 9 sitting facing alternate ways, whilst behind the hole, Nos2,4,6,8 and 10 sitting likewise, with No2 facing No1, the strops were fixed close to the floor on either side of the exit so as to not foul the hole.

After repeating these procedures many times, 鈥淒鈥� day arrived, not, The 鈥淒鈥� day, but the day that we were drop from a balloon. First draw a parachute, this was obtained, not over a counter, but delivered via a chute through a covered hole from the packing room, so that the issuer had no idea who was receiving a particular chute, and vice versa, all cloak and dagger one might think. The story that abounded was, because of this being a mixed sex camp there was quite a lot of fraternisation, resulting in fallings out and disagreement, so someone could be given a dud. There was also the other side of the situation, if there was a chute failure, the effect of this on the issuer would have been devastating, I tend to relate to the latter, a lot of what happened next depended on the weather, if good, it would be on the truck and off to Tatton Park where the D.Z. was, put on harness supervised and tested by the instructor and into the basket suspended from the Barrage balloon. Dispatcher to winchman 鈥淯p 700鈥� and just to wind us up 鈥淒own 706鈥� parachute strops hooked onto a bar, 鈥淩eady number 1鈥�, swing feet into hole and look up at instructor, a downward swing of the instructors arm and a loud 鈥淕o鈥�, not knowing what to expect, it came as a relief when feeling quite a jolt and looking up to see the chute was open, a feeling of elation was soon destroyed by an instructor on the ground with a loud hailer, telling me to get my act together ready for landing, I think I made a bit of a hash of it, never mind, I鈥檇 made it, get out of the harness, roll up the chute, make tracks for the NAAFI or W.V.S. wagon and order tea and wads for five, then back to Ringway. If I remember correctly we just did one jump a day, there being several squads and only one balloon. The next jump for me was the most hair-raising, I suppose it was because having done one I thought I knew it all, in fact I almost panicked, thinking that the chute was taking too long to open, but all was well, made a better landing. Next jumps were also made from a Whitley, taking off from Ringway to fly over Tatton park, first exits were slow pairs, i.e.1 and 2, 3 and 4 etc, the next would be a stick of five, then two sticks of five, eventually an operational stick of ten with a gap between 5 and 6 for the dropping of weapon containers suspended beneath the wings. It went like this, on the word 鈥淕O鈥� the first five would exit, shouting out their numbers as they went, number 6, feet already in the hole would shout loudly 鈥淐ontainer, Container鈥� before himself exiting, this was to avoid getting clobbered by the containers which should have been dropped in the gap, the rest just followed. All that remained was a night jump, which would be from a balloon, procedure was just the same except of course, it was dark, coming down a voice telling me to do this and that. I, not realising that he could see me silhouetted against the night sky, was tending to ignore the advice being offered, 鈥榯il it was too late, result, a very painful landing, luckily no bones broken. I should add that during the days we were supposed to be jumping, and the weather being a bit dodgy parachutes would be drawn in readiness, and having to laze about waiting for the weather to clear, I must also add that one would stick to that chute like glue, mostly sitting on it or using it as a pillow. This training was being carried out as quickly as possible, because we were apparently needed to make up a draft leaving for the middle east, we should have had two night jumps, anyway, after all this we were paraded and given those coveted wings, I think we were given our Red berets at the same time, sent home on seven days leave, with instructions to report back to Bulford Barracks.

A point about the containers, they were cylindrical, about 5ft long, 18ins in diameter, with a recess in one end into which the parachute was stowed, together with a small spring loaded chute, which on release would pull the main chute out. To keep the chute in place were four flaps, like an envelope, one with raised metal stud, the other three with metal trimmed holes, the one with the stud being the first placed over, the others with their holes over the stud, being secured by a metal pin like a skewer through a hole in the end of the stud. When loading containers, the pin was secured to the aircraft by a length of cord, the eye of the pin uppermost. If however the pin had been inserted with the eye downwards, it would result in the pin being bent and the cord snapping on release of the container from the aircraft, and a container burying itself in the ground, with a loss of weaponry.

At Ringway there was also a mock-up of a Dakota fuselage, the exit from which was via a doorway on the port-side to the rear of the aircraft, the drill used was for all to be standing facing the rear, for strops to be attached to a cable running the length of the inside of the fuselage on the starboard side each man checking the equipment of the man in front of him, to make sure that he hadn鈥檛 got his strop twisted through his harness, on the command 鈥淩ED LIGHT ON鈥�, No1 would stand left foot forward, half in and half out, in the doorway, one hand on either side of the doorway with the rest of the stick as close as possible up behind him, then on the shout 鈥淕REEN LIGHT - GO鈥� he would step out with his right leg, being caught by the slipstream and away, being quickly followed by the rest, who had been shuffling left foot forward, carrying their strops in their left hands, which would be given a good sling to the rear of the cabin when nearing the doorway. I should point out that the lights in question were positioned on the righthand side of the doorway in full view of all, and were operated either by the Pilot or Navigator when nearing or over the D.Z, the Platoon officer would be No1 with his batman as No2, our batman would be so close to his Officer that we all swore when the light changed to green, he went, leaving the Officer no option, and a gap in the stick if the rest weren鈥檛 quick enough.

Getting back to being sent home on Seven days leave, some of the bods, of which I was not one, were smart enough to write in knowing that we were to be given Seven days Embarkation leave in addition, and so received pay and ration coupons by return of post. Anyway I was enjoying my time at home, where the sight of a Red Beret was still a rarity, being paraded at the local Pub, The Red House (Cantley) by a obviously proud Dad, being on a bus in Norwich and hearing a young boy behind me say to his Mum 鈥淣o he鈥檚 a Paratrooper鈥� It鈥檚 a wonder the beret was big enough.

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