Pau Basse Pyrenees
This place was one of the better places to go in the summer but PTS always went when the weather in the Pyrenees went claggy. The French used the same DZ all day and it was a mare to get on in between the Noratlases doing static line and the Transall dropping French free fall. Whilst loitering we found that the Tacan cross cuts from Biarritz and Mont de Marzan were pretty accurate. (This was before SCNS). Coupled with an overhead from the NDB and stopwatch. We practised the run in in good weather whilst waiting for a gap - mostly when the French went to lunch- and it seemed to work out. When we tried it on an overcast day, the boys would emerge from the cloud within a recoverable circle of error to make the impact point. Our hosts thought that we had a blind drop capability after that. It always paid to keep the French hierarchy on side or it was tripe for dinner in the Casino or officers' mess. It was only us that seemed to be served it spookily! The Brit team leader was called Monsieur Smoo locally and did not care for diplomacy. One overcast morning at met brief he announced to the assembled Anglo French paras. "The weather is OK for Rosbifs, No good for Frogs" There was a Gallic froideur.
We ate out that evening.
Last edited by Dougie M; 22nd Aug 2015 at 13:37.