So at long last the PJIs are wearing a badge that the've actually earned, unlike the brevet which they found at the bottom of their cornflakes packet :ugh:

Some of us already are......:)

(Not with para wings though)

' Knowledge Dispels Fear' - yeah right!! I was frightened f@£tless on my first balloon descent, yay survived that and the Argosy jump that followed!!!

My first a/c despatch I had a foreign officer No 1 in stick: 'Stand in the door' all normal. 'RED ON' he takes 2 steps backwards ' Oh crap' thinks I first refusal already! As I lean forward to bring No 2 into his place lights go green and foreign gentleman runs past me and out of the Herc door, rest of stick leave as per plan, non of them clapped hands behind the ramp so phew we got away with that one.

After completing training on the Valetta at Dishforth, 1952, we Air Signallers were required to take a 'mini-para' course at Abingdon prior to posting to squadrons. This involved all the preliminaries leading to a balloon jump, after which we received an Irvin parachute badge. Troop despatching was an integral part of our duties in the Suez Canal Zone, and we also attended a refresher course out there later.
Before the troops were at 'Stand in the Door' it was advisable to ensure your safety belt was attached as a keen 'jumper' might have wanted to hold your hand on the way down, also, on post-despatch all the strops had to be hauled in.
A recalcitrant jumper could always be helped by a well aimed boot on his posterior when he 'froze' in the door - and he would probably be grateful for the continuance of his career thereafter.

Our V-force plotter was a bit of a nutcase like that. Applied for a course and was turned down. Went over the goo and got the course.

ValMORNA,
when I was despatching paras on Hastings I always liked to be on a crew with a big Signaller. This was so he could help pull in the para bags after the drop. The Hastings dropped at about safety speed with the inboards throttled back and as soon 'troops gone ' was called up went the inboards and the bags became very difficult to haul in.

Most useful and (IMHO) relevant para-related training I ever got as a fully paid-up (rotary) member of the TWMR was with the USN.

On a trip to Pensacola, got a couple of trips in their T-6C, sort of a fat Tucano (never was much good at aircraft recce!). It didn't have bang seats, but used static line 'chutes, so it was back to the good old (sic) climb out and dive over the trailing edge.

Closing the general safety brief, the QFI said "Now we'll put you through the Sim!" :confused:

So Teeters was led into a hangar with a T-6C fuselage on top of (what seemed) a very high scaffold, with a circus-style safety net :eek: (what seemed) a long way below. I was beginning to work out what was going to happen.......

And so it was. Strapped in, then given the word (which wasn't "Jump John Jump!"), unstrapped, climbed out and dived over the trailing edge. Small jerk from the static line, then into the net. Bit like a bungee-jump sans bungee!

But a great confidence builder, and the closest I ever want to get to a caterpillar badge.... :ok:

Contentious issue this- don't get confused with the water course. lots of aircrew and non aircrew (including MoD civillians like myself) did a three day course culminating in one drop into Studland or Falmouth using 22ft SSLs. Last course was probably 2003/4 when 22fts became in short supply and had a life of 10 drops into water. AB/SF Pol (Lt Col Parkinson decesed) declared anyone to jump required to pass P company first. I knew of some with TSW and a few Rocks had "entitlement to parachute" Unfortunatly with the shortage of frames, many were unable to meet the currency requirements. I guess many were in it for the additional few quid para pay. The Entilement to Parachute Annex was cut to less than a quater from what it was in 1999.

JATE ran a few trips to Jersey and Gib with the HOEU to have a splash. I belive the rationale in the earlier days was to give prospective Catterpillar club members the opportunity for a bit of training but into water so no broken bones. Safety cover was one boat per jumper in sticks of 6. The RM at Poole provided the support but like all things they were quite stretched. All good fun things come to an end.

The P Company mandate would have been a filter to erase 'badge collectors' for which there is a paranoia that remains extant. If you have a skill set that requires para insert within your portfolio being a P Company graduate is not necessarily a mandatory skill. Brown jobs cannot get into their grey matter that sometimes technical expertise far exceeds brawn. The list of such military skills would range from comms support to OP to battlefield photography etc etc and the 'best man for the job' may not have the youth or fitness to crack P Company, but that should not prevent him being the best man for the job. Happily in such cases single service direction is what it says on the tin.... Single service. There are plenty of other service types attached directly and indirectly to SF and 16 Air Assault.

Spot on Tiger.
If it were essential to put even the most non millitary person on the ground and the only way is by parachute they could strap him/her to a PJI on a tandem chute. No different to they do most weekends all over the world for fun.

Far more cost effective then training all the badge collectors and keeping them current.

dragartist,
when I was at JATE there was an annual 'fun jump' at Studland using the 22 foot steerable. Some of the JATE civilian staff did it, at least one of whom did it more than once. No I never did it. Did my ALM qualifying jumps from an Argosy long before that. Any they needed me on the a/c in case there was a hang up ! Well that was my excuse. If anyone is interested as to why ALM para training ceased then I will relate my involvement in it.

aa62,

Yes please.

S4G

1 PTS Abingdon
 

I did the parachute course at Abingdon in June 1959 culminating in one balloon descent from 800ft.

A couple of photos taken by me at the time.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...Abingdon1a.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...SAbingdon2.jpg

...and a Hastings returns from a drop at nearby Weston on the Green

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...d_1280x794.jpg

Ah,the outdoor exit trainer (or was it the "knacker cracker") . Remember it well from my course at Brize in the early 80s , not sure which was worse, that or the comment of " it's just like stepping off the kerb " in the balloon basket at 800ft over Hullavington. Knew there was a reason I've disliked PJI's lol

Does anyone remember going on a smaller version of the fan trainer which they used to set up at the old Schoolboy's and Schoolgirls' Exhibition which they had annually at Earls Court and other locations around the UK? (I used to go the one in the Kelvin hall in Glasgow). I think it was run by TA soldiers from the Parachute Regiment.

I remember queuing for ages to climb up the tower and then have an exciting descent back to ground level. It could only have been a quarter the height of the one in the photo, but it was scary enough when you were only ten!

Warmtoast,
classic pic of a Hastings returning from a para sortie. We rarely attempted replacing the ill fitting para doors in flight. It was too easy to lose one !


My story of how ALM para training ceased. In the mid 1980's I was the Chief Air Loadmaster Instructor (CALMI) on 242 OCU. I was ultimately responsible for the training and categorisation of all the Hercules ALMs via the ALM instructors on the OCU.. Not only did it involve flying on all the roles, route airdrop and tanking but it also had a huge 'clerking' element.
One day the boss dropped a file on my desk with a 'request' that I put it at the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa pile of paper in my in tray.
The crux of this file was a paper written by No1 PTS recommending that ALM para training cease. Their argument was that the para commitment had reduced (reduction in army para numbers) to an extent that any future ABEX etc could be manned by PTS personnel. Thus the need to train Loadmasters as para despatchers no longer existed and substantial savings in money and training time could be achieved. These sort of statements are always welcome to the 'system'. Of course the obvious solution would have been a reduction in the numbers of PJIs ! Or hand all the para training over to the army !
I pointed out that one of the reasons that the ALM had been used as a paratroop despatcher was that after a drop the PJI became a passenger. Unless he could be repatriated back to base ASAP he was of no further use unless a para drop was organised away from base.
Actually my boss and I were both of the opinion that the decision had probably already been made and we were in the consultation loop merely as a matter of course. Money talks, especially if it is the saving of it.
One of the things that always perplexed me was that PJIs were allowed to retrain as ALMS up to the age of 30 (normal age cut off was 26 at the time).
So in my reply I recommended that one of the logical outcomes of the paper was that this anomaly be corrected.
And so it all came to pass.
It had little or no effect on the ALM branch, although a few diehards mourned it's passing. The ALM still flew on para sorties of course doing his normal duties and acting as the link between the captain and the despatchers but did not have any responsibility for the checking or despatching of the paratroopers.

Attendance of a 'pre-para course' has no impact on the type of parachute qualification badge worn.

A 'winged parachute' is worn by PJIs because they qualify as parachute trained in order to fill a parachute-trained role. This also applies to TCW/TSW/MAOT personnel, who will be put onto the parachute course in order to fill established posts within their various units.

If someone manages to get onto a parachute course who doesn't require the qualification to fulfil a post on their unit then they're awarded the 'lightbull'.

In short,

- Wings - Qualified in order to fill an established parachute post within their unit.
- Lightbulb - Qualified without an established parachute role.

On moving from an established parachute post personnel retain their wings.

Why do I know about all this? Well once upon a time I was dicked to attended Brize for the meat bomb course because,

- Some fool in the Army decided they wanted a CLA-trained stacker to be able to jump out of aircraft (even though the then in use CLA kit was packed full of items that would be unlikely to withstand an airdrop).
- The previous para-trained CLA was posted to a blue suit role.
- I was the youngest, fittest (?) CLA and, seemingly important, the shortest in post and therefore most easily dicked.

I passed the course but can't say I ever enjoyed getting off before reaching the terminal, it was a means to an end, no more. What I did find interesting though was the difference between the mentality of 'airborne' folks and commando trained (who I've also worked alongside with the CLR) to 'outsiders'. Airborne types seem to view attached personnel with suspicion and derision wheras commando-trained seem to recognise that you must there for a reason (having a skill they don't have) or else wouldn't be there, and as such treat attached personnel in a much more professional manner.

Sorry Helpful Stacker - very interesting post, but could you plse elaborate on/explain/define TCW/TSW/MAOT and CLA/ CLR.

Thanks

nimbev - Sorry, TLA overdose.

TCW - Tactical Communications Wing. An RAF unit that provides, among other things, expeditionary airfield/aircraft coordination communications.

TSW - Tactical Supply Wing. An RAF unit that provides forward/tactical refuelling facilities to predominately battlefield helicopters.

MAOT - Mobile Air Operations Team. An RAF unit who provide ground-based command and control for various aspects of air ops.

CLA - Chemical Lab Assistant. The official title for personnel trained by QinetiQ/DFG West Moors to carry out fuels analysis and testing in the field.

CLR - Commando Logistics Regiment. The logistcs support organisation for the Commando force.

Thanks Helpful Stacker - really helpful:ok: