Ormeside28 (#10727),
".... On one exercise we did carry 26 members of the Parachute Regiment in the Horsa. They were not impressed and said that they would rather jump ....."
Long ago I told of a weekend occasion somewhere near Shawbury. The RAF Parachutist Display Team ("Red Devils" ?) was being ferried to or from an engagement in their "Dominie" (aka Dragon Rapide). An engine failed. Loaded, the thing could not maintain height. The pilot appealed to his pax to do the decent thing. They readily complied and floated down over Shopshire. Unencumbered, the Domine made it safely into Shawbury (?)
SDO Shawbury spent the rest of the afternoon organising transport to rescue the castaways from the various low taverns into which they had taken refuge.
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"...They were not impressed..."
Don't blame 'em. Did a (very little) Club gliding myself at Geilenkirchen 1960. Every landing a forced landing (apart from winched circuits) - and no Flying Pay ? (only joking- I enjoyed it !
"...I left the RAF in 1947 .. I rejoined the RAF in 1951 and after a year ended up on 47 Squadron at Topcliffe..."
I left in 1946, rejoined in 1949, and a year later was posted to 20 Sqdn, after a conversion onto Meteors. They gave me a Vampire (which I'd never seen) and a Spitfire (which I'd trained on seven years before) to fly. It figures !
Never a dull moment !
Danny.