I did my para training in 1961 at Abingdon and this news clip really brought back memories. Went on to do 60 jumps in total with the aircraft shown, static line Argosy and Beverly and free falling in France and the U.K. in the venerable but reliable De Havilland Rapide in France and the U.K. Happy days! All under the umbrella of 21SAS.
My grandad went to Abingdon in 1963 he either jumped out of a Argosy or Beverly though he only stayed a weekend he was in TA he was he went Aldershot first he did his final jump in Cyprus out of a Hastings he did 8 jumps he did.
Just wish to point out that the Paras never took Pegasus Bridge on D Day. It was 6 platoons of the 'Ox and Bucks' plus a detachment of Royal Engineers under the command of Major Howard. Although they were all part of 6th Airborne they were not 'Paras' in the real sense but Glider borne Troops.
yes..though of course as it was the pure parachute bit i think everyone was already a trained soldier ..nonetheless ballsy thing to do..didnt say if he was an officer?
I did my basic para course at Brize Norton in 1997, looks like the course didnt change much at all. First two jumps out of the Shorts Skyvan then the C130 Hercules after that.
My Grandad went to RAF Abingdon in 1963 at weekends to do para training he also did some para training at Aldershot as well at weekends he was in REME TA.
Loved the comment that chutes always open - not. Did my course in 1965 from Support Co. 10 Para. No mention of BPs, crosswinds or mid - air collisions. Great feeling when getting wings.
@@broontroot1991 Mine was also at Weston. 6th jump carrying personal weapons container. Dropping the container and releasing my reserve chute was interesting.
Wow, one of the very 1st, they were stitched up with no way back home, did he remain a POW in Italy, my Grandad was 2nd Battalion Paras & WIA Tunisia . www.paradata.org.uk/event/tragino-operation-colossus#:~:text=Towards%20the%20end%20of%201940%20at%20a%20meeting,place%20called%20Tragino%20near%20Naples%20in%20southern%20Italy.
@@finchedward1 He escaped after Italy Capitulated and woke up to an unguarded camp, then they all took to the hills and Hitler sent in a fallschirmjäger regiment and getting recaptured put on a train to Germany, he asked the station master at Cocullo Italy to slow the train on a curve and a whole bunch jumped off , he carried his mate who broke his legs for most of the trip back to allied lines after being hidden by a woman , Agata De Cesare .. made it back to England and shipped out to the Pacific - Operation Faros till the end of the war -- www.paradata.org.uk/people/james-parker
@@Droodog127 Thankyou for the reply & great information & the link to Para data, what a war he had. Please find attached my Grandads profile on the site. I have been to several locations, cemeteries etc in Sicily & Italy associated with the war & my Grandad. I hope to visit Tunisia in the next few years all being well. Thankyou for the reply & great information & the link to Para data, what a war he had. with best wishes Edward www.paradata.org.uk/people/walter-h-handscomb
I was 10 Para and did my Para course at Abingdon in 1966. Because of bad weather we actually did our first jump from a Hastings. This was shortly after a Hastings has crashed killing all the trainees. You can imaging how we all felt, then to crown it all we had an engine fire and although we were hooked up were told to unhook and assume the crash position as the aircraft returned to Abingdon. As we landed the runway was lined with fire trucks🤪. An hour later we were back in the air to complete our first jump. My next jump was from a balloon and that was much more frightening. I still remember the creaking cables holding the basket as I stood in the door.
That’s totally terrifying, to continue after what had happened to you. Did you find that you continued because you were on auto pilot, or did the nco’s keep everyone moving, or was it through you being focused?
The RAFs worst peacetime fixed wing air crash started at RAF Abingdon in 1965 , a Handley Page Hastings transport took off with Paratroopers on board and crashed near the village of Toot Baldon just south of Oxford , 41 servicemen were killed .
my dad who was TA para after regular army service in Sigs said the balloon jump was worse than the aircraft as no noise to distract you except the sound of wind and the noise of the cables swaying
I love the way they explained the facts in by-gone days. Not dumbed down, just the facts. Today they assume everyone is an idiot and can't absorb simple facts. This is a great time piece and slice of history
@@seltaeb9691 To be fair things are dumbed down in the military for good reasons and it isn't you were stupid per se. If things and communications weren't dumbed down to their simplest form then 50 people may have 50 different interpretations of how a piece of kit works or what a situation really is and that could be very dangerous.
Very different from Ft. Benning US Army Airborne School. The training apparatus that is except for the 34 foot exit door, running PLF ramp, and barrage balloon jump. I wish we had the barrage balloon jump.
we don't anymore. This film was from 1960. Balloon jump was replaced by Skyvan jumps a few years back, and we only do static line now (so no rip cords)
I'd jump out of the plane but the Barrage Balloon Jump is no way jose. No safety ropes just the wind whistling goodbye.. guts & stupidity needed for that. It's killed a few.
shows the variety of colours in Denison smocks and even the colours of the helmets. I always remember being told off, not in a military concept, and been reminded that uniform means all the same..which of course is not quite true as ally and gucci kit etc and associated concepts has always demonstrated, probably from the the time of legionaries on Hadrians Wall
@freebeerfordworkers I was in Brize 76-78. Did you rmbr Concorde doing it's Touch & Go laps for hours, the noise was deafening, ornaments rattled telly full vol & the heatwave of 76 was a furnace. The Base was in revolt & by way of 'sorry' we had a Concorde open day. It is really cramped inside, fast yes but give me a Vicky VC10 anytime. Beautiful aircraft just short of 1000mph.
wait for next census but the last one had 87% of population as white British i think. Went out in Punjabi restaurant in Manchester, white, black, brown, Chinese, Asian..door person was of Asian appearance but broad Manc accent
Sheer guts & I didn't have enough to do the course & knew the balloon jump would kill me, so I didn't volunteer & stayed put in my Corp. First rule in the army is Don't Volunteer, Second rule is Don't get Caught..
@@seltaeb9691 - I did one of the first jumps courses after the balloon had been retired, I was very pleased. I wasn't so pleased when it then turned up at my unit 3 months later and we all had to turn to for a Parachute Parade!! I did 3 jumps that day and can't really say I enjoyed any of them. Once the balloon completed its tour of UK units it was fully retired and thankfully I never had to do it again. I still don't get lads who loved it!
@freebeerfordworkers - the shame of refusing is bad enough, doing it in front of another nation is shocking. We had a refusal on my BPC, on his 4th jump, by the time we got back to the accom at Bzn he had packed all his kit and disappeared. There was no second chance with us!
@freebeerfordworkers - Vive la France! You've got to love them. 🤦🏼♂️ The lad on my course was Guards Para Platoon, he was a big lad, always talking about fighting, threw his weight about with the other course members, and the 2 other GPP lads were clearly scared of him. He was one of those blokes that just seemed dangerously unpredictable. At the time I thought he was a right tw4t but looking back I can see he was 💩 himself from day one and was full of false bravado to try and hide it. There's no real shame in that, parachuting is scary and dangerous and anyone who forgets that is a danger to themselves and others!
I did my last jump onto Hankley Common from an Argosy. For some reason nearly everyone had loads of twists. One bloke apparently ended upside down with his legs in his rigging lines, he was supposedly heard shouting “help me, help me”. Dislocated shoulder. Lol
That brings back memories, Aldershot, Abingdon, then out to Egypt, We jumped from Valettas, and DC-3, Alan Lad was filming the RED Berit at Aldershot at the time (we were Extras ) 1951 , i think, 16th Ind, Para Bgd Group, I was RMP Airborne, I wonder if there any left of the 16th ???
I did my para training in 1961 at Abingdon and this news clip really brought back memories. Went on to do 60 jumps in total with the aircraft shown, static line Argosy and Beverly and free falling in France and the U.K. in the venerable but reliable De Havilland Rapide in France and the U.K. Happy days! All under the umbrella of 21SAS.
My grandad went to Abingdon in 1963 he either jumped out of a Argosy or Beverly though he only stayed a weekend he was in TA he was he went Aldershot first he did his final jump in Cyprus out of a Hastings he did 8 jumps he did.
Love the Denison smock & Para helmet, 37 or 44 pattern webbing belt - these chaps wouldn't have looked out of place at Arnhem, or Pegasus Bridge.
Yeah noticed those, look very good quality. Quite a collector's item now I believe and not cheap!
Just wish to point out that the Paras never took Pegasus Bridge on D Day. It was 6 platoons of the 'Ox and Bucks' plus a detachment of Royal Engineers under the command of Major Howard. Although they were all part of 6th Airborne they were not 'Paras' in the real sense but Glider borne Troops.
@@belfastbrit Excellent point! I knew this but forgot!
Didn't mention Jack doing P Company - bet that wasn't a 'piece of cake'!
@5:06 good to see the Padre jumping as well. Sums up how involved they are with the troops in their care.
That struck me, too. If main 'chute fails release & try reserve; if reserve fails try yanking on Padre.
it was a test of his faith.
I wonder where Jack is nowadays. I bet he'd love to see this!
He should be in his early to mid eighties now!
lol. Imagine turning up at Aldershot in the 90s with a guitar on your back....
Ironing board - yes; guitar - no!
yes..though of course as it was the pure parachute bit i think everyone was already a trained soldier ..nonetheless ballsy thing to do..didnt say if he was an officer?
I did my basic para course at Brize Norton in 1997, looks like the course didnt change much at all. First two jumps out of the Shorts Skyvan then the C130 Hercules after that.
I never knew the Beverley had a separate chamber in the tail boom for extra parachutists. Fancy that.
1:48 SAS trooper on the course too.
This brings back memories, I did mine in 1970 lol
This is excellent footage !
My Grandad went to RAF Abingdon in 1963 at weekends to do para training he also did some para training at Aldershot as well at weekends he was in REME TA.
The quality of the film is fantastic and the training .
The padre jumping with his spectacles on.
Loved the comment that chutes always open - not. Did my course in 1965 from Support Co. 10 Para. No mention of BPs, crosswinds or mid - air collisions. Great feeling when getting wings.
Roger that !
My mate had a BP out of the balloon at Weston.
@@broontroot1991 Mine was also at Weston. 6th jump carrying personal weapons container. Dropping the container and releasing my reserve chute was interesting.
1971 I was there, happy days. Weston on the green, one guy landed on a hangar and got pulled off by the wind, ouch!
Granddad did his training at Ringway and Tatton Park 1940 then for real February 10th 1941 Tragino Italy
Wow, one of the very 1st, they were stitched up with no way back home, did he remain a POW in Italy, my Grandad was 2nd Battalion Paras & WIA Tunisia . www.paradata.org.uk/event/tragino-operation-colossus#:~:text=Towards%20the%20end%20of%201940%20at%20a%20meeting,place%20called%20Tragino%20near%20Naples%20in%20southern%20Italy.
@@finchedward1 He escaped after Italy Capitulated and woke up to an unguarded camp, then they all took to the hills and Hitler sent in a fallschirmjäger regiment and getting recaptured put on a train to Germany, he asked the station master at Cocullo Italy to slow the train on a curve and a whole bunch jumped off , he carried his mate who broke his legs for most of the trip back to allied lines after being hidden by a woman , Agata De Cesare .. made it back to England and shipped out to the Pacific - Operation Faros till the end of the war -- www.paradata.org.uk/people/james-parker
@@Droodog127 Thankyou for the reply & great information & the link to Para data, what a war he had.
Please find attached my Grandads profile on the site.
I have been to several locations, cemeteries etc in Sicily & Italy associated with the war & my Grandad.
I hope to visit Tunisia in the next few years all being well.
Thankyou for the reply & great information & the link to Para data, what a war he had.
with best wishes
Edward www.paradata.org.uk/people/walter-h-handscomb
@@finchedward1 Outstanding!! Sad they both died young , Granddad died in 1973 😥
Love the music to this, it sounds like the intro to a "CARRY ON" film !
“Jumping today vicar?”
I was 10 Para and did my Para course at Abingdon in 1966. Because of bad weather we actually did our first jump from a Hastings. This was shortly after a Hastings has crashed killing all the trainees. You can imaging how we all felt, then to crown it all we had an engine fire and although we were hooked up were told to unhook and assume the crash position as the aircraft returned to Abingdon. As we landed the runway was lined with fire trucks🤪. An hour later we were back in the air to complete our first jump. My next jump was from a balloon and that was much more frightening. I still remember the creaking cables holding the basket as I stood in the door.
That’s totally terrifying, to continue after what had happened to you. Did you find that you continued because you were on auto pilot, or did the nco’s keep everyone moving, or was it through you being focused?
@@stevenlangdon-griffiths293 I was totally focused on getting my wings
Grant Kinnaird outstanding mindset
@@stevenlangdon-griffiths293 thank you
I was at school with the son of the pilot of the Hastings that crashed He later became a civilian pilot himself
Probably was safer to jump with a parachute packed by a woman than it was to stay in a Blackburn Beverley.
I was impressed to see that Ken Dodd was navigating the aircraft and the drop at 7:18. Well done, Mr Dodd, you were a man with hidden talents!
Member of the sas there by the looks of it
Judging from the comments, a lot of fine men have seen this video. My hat off to them all!
The RAFs worst peacetime fixed wing air crash started at RAF Abingdon in 1965 , a Handley Page Hastings transport took off with Paratroopers on board and crashed near the village of Toot Baldon just south of Oxford , 41 servicemen were killed .
Another one to look up is the crash in El Adem in 1969 when a plane went down there full of 7RHA
My course was 3 weeks. 2 Balloon jumps door and aperture 6 aircraft . Argosy Beverley and Hastings aircraft.
Tom Parker 2 Para ?
@@Rationpack No wasn't 2 para I served with 63 para sqd. Part of 1para log regt
my dad who was TA para after regular army service in Sigs said the balloon jump was worse than the aircraft as no noise to distract you except the sound of wind and the noise of the cables swaying
@@tomparker1269 Are you "Taff" Parker, Bahrein 1966 ?
@@williamcarrington61 no Tom Parker ex 63 para squadron rct
Superb from a different era of understatement and little fuss. Great lads as they are now. Best to all.
My late dad did his para training here, he was guards airborne, he was very proud of his service, miss you dad 💂♂️
I love the way they explained the facts in by-gone days. Not dumbed down, just the facts. Today they assume everyone is an idiot and can't absorb simple facts. This is a great time piece and slice of history
Can't and shouldn't blame them. There really are that many idiots in the society now.
We were all stoopid. Plain & simple. Para Course is terribly hard, abusive sun up to sun down.
@@seltaeb9691 To be fair things are dumbed down in the military for good reasons and it isn't you were stupid per se. If things and communications weren't dumbed down to their simplest form then 50 people may have 50 different interpretations of how a piece of kit works or what a situation really is and that could be very dangerous.
It absolutely is, the correct manner in which to do things.
RAF Abingdon is now earmarked for housing development.
My father was in 3 Para back in the 60`s , I have a photograph of the aircraft in the opening shot ,A " Beverly "jump plane.
A Beverly, yea God's that must be WW2 flotsam.
@@seltaeb9691 I worked on the Beverleys from 1959 until 1965 with 242OCU at RAF Disforth and Thorney Island
I did Abingdon Jan 1968. Great times
The paras have no equal...!
Very different from Ft. Benning US Army Airborne School. The training apparatus that is except for the 34 foot exit door, running PLF ramp, and barrage balloon jump. I wish we had the barrage balloon jump.
we don't anymore. This film was from 1960. Balloon jump was replaced by Skyvan jumps a few years back, and we only do static line now (so no rip cords)
I'd jump out of the plane but the Barrage Balloon Jump is no way jose. No safety ropes just the wind whistling goodbye.. guts & stupidity needed for that. It's killed a few.
The balloon at night on Hankley Common, a real test of nerves, you can hear guys talking on the ground at 800ft!
shows the variety of colours in Denison smocks and even the colours of the helmets. I always remember being told off, not in a military concept, and been reminded that uniform means all the same..which of course is not quite true as ally and gucci kit etc and associated concepts has always demonstrated, probably from the the time of legionaries on Hadrians Wall
How brave these guys.
I once did it in the 1970’s at Langar Airfield in Nottingham, no memory of the aircraft, basic one-day training and the jump 😳.
See the Chaplain lined up for the jump looking tense!
That was Reverend Timothy Farthing from Dads Army, I didnt see the Verger there though! LOL!
I thought he was la-di- da Gunner Graham !!!
He entitled to say Parachuting is a piece of piss..
Reminds me of my training days.
but jack should had gone through p company first, so the para course would had been a piss to do
Wondered that myself and was a Reserve All Arms P Coy in operation for the non Para Reg ranks?
P company is a fitness course , the jumps course is the opposite, the two are totally different.
And one arrives at depot with a rock N roll guitar
@@Boringstuff4 Why's that buddy?
@@h7283 because he's a star
Memories. Did this at Brize 1976. Training looked identical. No more balloons. Shame
@freebeerfordworkers I was in Brize 76-78. Did you rmbr Concorde doing it's Touch & Go laps for hours, the noise was deafening, ornaments rattled telly full vol & the heatwave of 76 was a furnace. The Base was in revolt & by way of 'sorry' we had a Concorde open day. It is really cramped inside, fast yes but give me a Vicky VC10 anytime. Beautiful aircraft just short of 1000mph.
What about P company?
6:38 'It's easy to guess what the padre is doing" :-)
My OC asked me & 3 mates just joined new unit (not Para's, Sigs) to do Para Course, ie Hell on Earth, yes yes yes & no! No way Jose!... ('71).
@3:11 - LOL ! That poor sod is shitting himself !
Apart from the aircraft not much change from Arnhem in September 1944
1:49 SAS reservist at the front there?
Good observation! Notice his boots too, no puttees!Looks like 'boots combat high' but I'm sure they didn't exist in 1960.
Could be guards. Brown beret black leather gaiters.
@@jonjon9047 Very true, although it does look rather sandy
1:31 He looks like Steve Buscemi of Boradwalk Empire.
Back in the day - Did they do p company prior to the course
"...or into battle". This is in 1960. Little did they know but the Parachute Regiment would never jump into action ever again.
Shhhh don't let the "sky gods" hear you say that, you'll dent their egos.
DAD was 23rd P.F.A. at this time
Excuse me daddy, was this when this country used to be Britain?
wait for next census but the last one had 87% of population as white British i think. Went out in Punjabi restaurant in Manchester, white, black, brown, Chinese, Asian..door person was of Asian appearance but broad Manc accent
Anyone based at Abingdon in 1960 remember John Hollyer, acting corporal in SAC Air Traffic Control
world was a different place then
Just what I was thinking..!
It's done at Brize Norton now.
01:57 I wonder, I wonder whether John Addison, composer of the Suite for ABTF, had seen this particular film and heard the music??
Some PLF they did huh?
I feel quite sick just looking at height on film 😂
Brilliant
Haha awesome I'm just down the road from Abingdon
Couldnt afford a guitar case!
204 Platoon1960 . Rock on !!!
Parachute, 2,Para, keep it up, next time, S. A. S.!
Dropping through the floor looks like added fun!
Sheer guts & I didn't have enough to do the course & knew the balloon jump would kill me, so I didn't volunteer & stayed put in my Corp. First rule in the army is Don't Volunteer, Second rule is Don't get Caught..
@@seltaeb9691 - I did one of the first jumps courses after the balloon had been retired, I was very pleased.
I wasn't so pleased when it then turned up at my unit 3 months later and we all had to turn to for a Parachute Parade!!
I did 3 jumps that day and can't really say I enjoyed any of them.
Once the balloon completed its tour of UK units it was fully retired and thankfully I never had to do it again.
I still don't get lads who loved it!
@Scumfuck McDoucheface - planes are fast, noisy and fun ... Balloons are static, eerily quiet and boring!
@freebeerfordworkers - the shame of refusing is bad enough, doing it in front of another nation is shocking.
We had a refusal on my BPC, on his 4th jump, by the time we got back to the accom at Bzn he had packed all his kit and disappeared. There was no second chance with us!
@freebeerfordworkers - Vive la France! You've got to love them. 🤦🏼♂️
The lad on my course was Guards Para Platoon, he was a big lad, always talking about fighting, threw his weight about with the other course members, and the 2 other GPP lads were clearly scared of him.
He was one of those blokes that just seemed dangerously unpredictable.
At the time I thought he was a right tw4t but looking back I can see he was 💩 himself from day one and was full of false bravado to try and hide it.
There's no real shame in that, parachuting is scary and dangerous and anyone who forgets that is a danger to themselves and others!
Dennison smocks, PJI's, Balloon Jumps, Beverley's, Abingdon and Hankley Common..!! 😂
I did my last jump onto Hankley Common from an Argosy. For some reason nearly everyone had loads of twists. One bloke apparently ended upside down with his legs in his rigging lines, he was supposedly heard shouting “help me, help me”. Dislocated shoulder. Lol
Brings back old memories from abingdon on my jump course in the sixties.
My grandad went there in 63 and got his wings
Did mine in '63 as well - part of training as a jump instructor. Had Paras and Gurkhas to practice on :)
@@CrabAir how long was you there for I think my grandad was there for a weekend he went to Aldershot first he did.
@@Crash-zm2qd 8 weeks July August. First 11 days learning to jump and the rest training a as PJI
@@CrabAir my grandad did 8 jumps his last one in Cyprus he was in TA reme.
That brings back memories, Aldershot, Abingdon, then out to Egypt, We jumped from Valettas, and DC-3, Alan Lad was filming the RED Berit at Aldershot at the time (we were Extras ) 1951 , i think, 16th Ind, Para Bgd Group, I was RMP Airborne, I wonder if there any left of the 16th ???
So was my dad.He was very disappointed as he played a German.
Fajny film