A very cheap and nasty throttle mechanism which RE sadly continued onto my next bike which was the Royal Enfield Clipper 250 cc 4 stroke.

When I read the trailers for the programme, I thought that it might be a tad irreverent piece. Far from it. As others have said, a wonderfully unique and well produced reflection of events. Well done Guy and all the others involved.

Just watched it. Excellent programme. Loved the "RAF" glider pilots, resplendent in their Glider Pilot Regiment ties. :hmm:

ShyTorque,
yes and we also dropped Husqvarna trail bikes as I recall. Along with some odd looking Citroen vehicle which was not keen on landing on the DZ. Not even the intrepid Guy Martin would have wanted to ride some of the bikes we dropped. I seem to recall that the army were not impressed with the Citroen as it was not four wheeled drive. All a long time ago and memory is not what it was. My log book for the time only says 'motorbikes/vehicles ' and does not specify the make . Wish I had been more specific about lots of the entries.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7ffb101bb3.jpg
Found another pic which I think is the Citroen I mentioned above. Another job for Guy !

Apologies for the rather large thread drift but everything you need to know about military motorcycles is here https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/military-motorcycles/

I haven't seen the programme yet (hope to be able to do so soon). I understand that the Empire training scheme churned out a surplus of (RAF) pilots toward the end of the war, many of whom were sitting around waiting for a squadron when ..... Arnhem happened and the army suddenly found itself very short of glider pilots. Many of these pilots awaiting appointment then suddenly found themselves attached to the Glider Pilot Regiment and ended up on Operation Varsity (airborne operation supporting the crossing of the Rhine).

Many thanks, jimjim1, for the link. Missed the original and just watched on that link. Remarkably well done and G M, as usual, enthusiastic, gritty realism. Points against? - that awful, awful, dirgy-voiced commentator :yuk:
Not much mentioned was that the '45 guys had no reserve 'chutes - tends to concentrate the mind well! We were similarly non-equipped when I did my jump from the WOTG balloon. NEVER again! :eek:
The glider crews possibly had it worse - bigger targets and fragile machines. Had the pleasure of working with an ex-glider pilot at Boscombe Down, Maj, later Col K M - a nicer, true gentleman would be difficukt to meet.
A generation apart! :ok::ok::ok::D

It wasn't just the Empire Training Scheme but the American BFTS, Arnold, and Towers schemes.

My late Father trained under the BFTS scheme in Miami, Oklahoma. Upon return to UK he was sent to the Aircrew Reception Centre at Harrogate where he was told he would become a Glider Pilot (despite having recommendations for fighters). He took a Horsa across the Rhine aged 20.

What most people don't realise is that 2/3rds of the pilots on Op VARSITY were RAF. Indeed, this is reflected in the casualty figures.

Probably one of these Beasties L:)
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4db37dd646.jpg

What was the drop zone used for the motorbike that Guy drove up and down the runway?
I may be wrong but I don't think it was Keevil or Hullavington.
AA62 must know!

1066

1066 I was wondering the same thing.

Not Keevil, Not WOTG, not Lyneham, Not Hullavington so was it Fairford, Merryfield or Little Ris ?

Arc

The Bombardier bikes I referred to came into service in the late 1970s - I'm not so old that I used to ride a Flying Flea!

I recall Abingdon was mentioned on the program.

VP8,
that certainly looks like the ones. But I also seem to remember dropping ones without a cab too. My pics of them have gone 'walkies'.
I thought the Guy Martin DZ was Abingdon. It looked vaguely familiar from when I was there with JATE before we moved to Brize Norton. We only dropped ULLA/free drop on the airfield but of course PTS had been there and used Weston on the Green for the training drops including the balloon which I found far more of a fright than the a/c jump.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6c6106e972.jpg
Not very good pic shows a JATE ULLA drop at Abingdon

Many thanks to AA62 et al for the Abingdon answer. Not a drop zone I used! Did do the 4 jump course at PTS there in 66 or 67! I can remember the sound of the breaking ties, before the canopy deployed, on my first balloon jump and the call of, "well done sir", from the PJI above. First aircraft jump was a Beverley, nice flat side door, perfect exit and ride down the slipstream with my feet bobbing up and down in front of me just visible over the reserve. Second aircraft jump was an Argosy. Not so good, Rounded fuselage made it far more difficult to make a stable driving exit so lots of twists, just like Guy. Never thought then that I would end up not just dropping at WoG but would be training others to do so!
Severe respect to Guy and all the paras before and after him that his drop was honouring
I was post JATFOR but when I think of the effort that went into a 15 ship exercise battalion drop, one can really admire the organisation and committment of those involved that went into all the big drops of WW2.

1066

Yes Mr Aviator, agree that the balloon jump was far more frightening than the aircraft jumps! In the aircraft you might be in the middle of a stick and just following everyone else out the door, it's much harder to grasp what's going on. In the balloon of course you get winched up from the ground, it's really quiet, and it's really quite close to the ground! They don't use that anymore, I think the first jump is from a light aircraft. I got much more used to the balloon as I volunteered to stay on after my course in order to qualify a couple of APJIs (Army Parachute Jump Instructor) who needed to despatch a certain number of people to qualify, so I did quite a few balloon jumps in a couple of days.

The balloon jump was, indeed, a bit alarming!! We didn't have reserves when we were inveigled into having a go. To avoid the flailing arms which were likely, we were required to grasp the appropriate trouser leg with one hand and grab that wrist with the other. - (from memory, right leg for a port exit and left for starboard.) With reserves. I understand, the arms are held on top of the reserve. Any way, we made our descents wearing our flying suits , (NEVER again!) - 2 weeks later there were still the unmistakable imprints of a hand grip on the leg of mine!! To be fair, the adrenaline 'high' and the exhilaration of the short period following 'chute' opening were unique rewards!