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Old 30th Oct 2006, 14:57
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adrian mole
 
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Spectre, I remember it well. JATFOR (Joint Air Transport Force - Parachute Brigade) was in it's heyday in the early 70s and one of the biggest exercises was Exercise Ruby Signet in Denmark in October 1972. There were possibly even more than 36 hercs used in a single wave and the first one delivered some 2400 Paras and the following returning waves delivered well over 60 HSP/MSP. I was based at Vaerlose for 10 days ready to ground handle the aircraft if the weather prevented a drop and the big recovery phase at the end when it all had to be recovered back to UK. Fortunately no fatalaties on the drop although one Maldrop with a Ferret Armoured Car produced a new vehicle 10 ft wide and 3ft high, another ended up in the middle of a forest and yet another went into a lake! There was a MOD Movie of JATFOR made from this Exercise - possibly still in the library gathering dust...
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