...Pace - Ref suspected icing at 9000' over Sth of France- No there was virtually no cloud - Weather very hot but cannot recall the outside temp. - but as implied any signs of icing evaporated as we commenced the descent . This was many years ago - flying days now over regretfully.
Mary - on the chute drop. - I can recall a conversation from a young ex parachute regt colleague in the days when they had just the one chute (no second chute) when discussing para regt training - in which he too confirmed that his worst odeal was the very first jump that had to be made from a cage atached to a tethered balloon at about 400-600 feet.
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