History 2009 Part 3             Part 1     Part 2       Part 4         Back to History

 

 

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Pathfinder Ireland members complete Irish Army Round Parachute Course

By Stewart Fitzell, Pathfinder Ireland

For the first two weeks of September three members of Pathfinder Ireland; Dave, Stewart and Daire, attended the Irish Army’s Military Static Line (MSL) Course.

Since the introduction of military parachuting in the Irish Army those selected must complete five jumps from a military aircraft in order to qualify for their wings. Until this year the only way to do this was to do the static line square (sports) or AFF course (sports) run by Para Cumann Mileata (The Military Parachute Club), make five (sports) jumps from a military aircraft as a qualified freefaller, or make five military freefall / HAHO jumps with the Army Ranger Wing (Special Forces Unit).

My ambition was to earn my Irish Wings by jumping with round canopies. And luckily for me it seems others in the Irish Army were thinking the same as about three years ago the decision was made to reintroduce round parachuting. Since then the Army has purchased a stock of round canopies, sent people on foreign courses in the USA, Germany and elsewhere and trained instructors and jumpmasters.

Dave and myself came to be on the course as the word got about that there were some nuts jumping rounds at the Irish Parachute Club who were serving members of the Irish Army / Army Reserve. Daire managed to get on the course, as his rather…lets say… direct boss apparently ‘demanded’ four places for his company.

So with a bit of persuasion I convinced my unit that sending me on the course was a good idea and at the end of August I found myself back in the Defence Forces Training Centre, located at the Curragh in Co. Kildare. Amongst the sheep, s**t (sheep again) and soldiers of the Curragh is an excellent open plain ideal for round parachuting and it was here that we would jump.

The other thirty members of the course came from a wide range of units of the Army and Air Corps and represented all ranks from Private to Commandant (Major). While some had jumped rounds before, and others freefall, there were also those who had not jumped out anything except the window at the back of their respective mess. So this made for an interesting mix for the instructors to deal with.

The rig used was the Spanish made Cimsa TP2Z 38 Foot Troop Assault Parachute and its associated reserve the Cimsa RTP-26Z. The main canopy is of the ‘orientable’ type, i.e. non-steerable and with no forward speed. The toggles allow one to rotate the canopy. For equipment jumps we used the Harness Single Point Release also known as the H Harness, which should be familiar to our American friends. This allowed us to jump with our backpack / bergen.

Ground training for the first jump lasted two days and followed the American system of training with emphasis on the Five Points of Performance. This covered the usual classroom lessons, PLF’s until insanity almost set in, crotch damaging hanging harness drills, parachute packing and aircraft drills which included a visit to the Air Corps base at Baldonnel.

  

Jumps began on a fresh Wednesday morning with the usual annoying wait after gearing up. Our jump ship was the Augusta Westland AW 139, the medium lift helicopter used by the Irish Air Corps. For our first three jumps in clean fatigues or Hollywood we would jump six jumpers per lift. Jump altitude was 1500ft and time from take off to jump only about five minutes once things got going. For some this first jump was as agonising as anyones first jump can be. For me though it was the fulfilment of a long ambition and with no trepidation I sat with my legs dangling out the door on the way to jump height. On the flight I enjoyed the aerial view of so many places that I had been intimately (or agonisingly) familiar with as a Cadet (trainee officer), from the sometimes cosy Cadet’s Mess, the sometimes ice covered tank tracks to the hill where Braveheart was filmed which is more often used for dig-ins.

My right hand protecting my reserve started to turn blue with the cold wetness of the broken low clouds and it was with great pleasure that I pushed myself out of the helicopter on the command ‘Go’. With the jump count up to ‘6000’ due to the slow 65 knot jump speed of the helicopter I looked up and ‘Checked Canopy. ‘Round , Apex, Mods, Lines’ Below me was the Curragh North Drop Zone, extending almost 2Km by 1Km. As the canopy had no forward speed I was mostly at the mercy of the wind which required me to slip (pull my risers) to slow the ground speed down for landing. As the Jumpmaster had done a good job of spotting I landed close to the RV point and the next stick was loaded onto the heli for their first jump.

With our first jump complete we returned to the hall to shakeout and re-pack our parachutes for the next jump. Due to poor weather conditions we had to wait until the next Monday to make our next jump, which gave us plenty of time to re-pack all parachutes and receive further training for our equipment jumps.

Monday saw most complete their second and third jump and we began preparations for Tuesday, which was planned be a special day for some of the old boys who had established Army parachuting. We hosted retired members and a soon to retire Colonel who had founded the Army Parachute Club. The events of the day included a display of all parachutes and related equipment in service, a demo jump from the round course, a freefall demo and a tandem for the retiring Colonel. This was followed by a meal in the NCO’s mess with plenty of talk of how Army parachuting began by jumping into a chicken farm (deliberately). It also commemorated a recently deceased retired member who had completed over 12,000 jumps and tragically died in a traffic accident in Thailand.

On Wednesday we made our first jump with combat equipment and at about 200 feet I released my rucksack onto the 15-foot lowering line. As Dave had been delayed jumping due to administrative problems he made his first three jumps this day.

Thursday was the last jump day of the course and all jumpers completed their fifth jump, which was again with combat equipment. The course was a complete success and there were no injuries. Over 30 jumpers qualified for their wings including three very happy Pathfinder Ireland members.

For me the completion of this course marked the end of a long ambition, to earn my country’s jump wings. Hopefully next year or the year after I will be able to complete the Jumpmaster course which will mean that Pathfinder Ireland will be able to conduct basic courses in Ireland. 

I know that many of you are thinking, ‘so where do I signup for the course to get my Irish wings’. As it stands only serving personnel may jump with the Army to receive Irish Wings and they cannot be earned from a civilian aircraft. Even for serving foreign military it is almost impossible to jump here with the Army. But I hope one day it may be possible for some of our foreign serving members to come here to earn their wings. After all three years ago when Austin, Dave and myself began Pathfinder Ireland we thought it would be almost impossible for us to even jump rounds in Ireland and we now do this on a fairly regular basis.

 

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Teuge Holland
 
Operation Market Garden 2009
65th Anniversary
 
 
    The course like those before it this year, suffered from too many people pulling out at short notice which is why the deposits and course payments will be reviewed to try to improve the situation. That said this course proved to be one of the best yet. Canopy handling had improved and for a change all students landed in the student DZ or what is classed as the over shoot area. There were no taxi's called and no GPS coordinates issued for those that continued to jump with a view to admiring everywhere in the surrounding area except the DZ.
 
    We started the course on the Saturday with a view to finishing in good time to attend the early Arnhem jumps.The weather was bright, sunny but too windy. The course and our club members who had turned up to give support and get a few jumps in could only sit and drink coffee while the resident 'Sky Gods' jumped their arse's off. Even the Tandem's were going up and down like Yo-Yo's.

 Ian had brought his young 12 year old son Callum along as he was going to a Tandem parachute jump with his Dad into one of the Arnhem drop zones. He had raised a considerable amount of money for our Poppy Appeal and this was all on the condition he jumped.
 
    A Wellbike was delivered to us to be dropped along with an WW2 airborne contained. 47 Air despatch had kindly helped us with some of the equipment needed to complete the operation and myself and Tony Ellis being former Air Dispatchers, were in our element working out how best to drop the container safely.

 

We were due to have a Wicker work basket pannier delivered later in the week so that we could drop loads of memorabilia which had been donated by various clubs, pubs and individuals. All would be raffled off or sold on E-bay to raise money for the two charities we were supporting.The British Legion Poppy Appeal and the Airborne Forces Museum Duxford. A new friend to the Pathfinder group was in the meantime working hard to finish his new painting 'Straight to the Hell'. Mr Piotr Gorka, a Polish artist who specialises in aviation subjects had been working for some time on a painting of the Polish Airborne drop at Driel in 1944. His friend and also one of our Polish Pathfinder group Grzegorz  Zajac, persuaded him to finish it in time for this years Arnhem anniversary. For two days he worked hard to finish his work so we could have several prints to drop at Arnhem and then sell to raise more money for the charities. So as you can see a lot was going on behind the scenes to make this event a memorable one. We were also short on chutes so Herve Steimer, Pathfinder France, made available several MC-1C from his own stock to enable more of our members to jump. Our club is all about fostering friendship between like minded Airborne personal from all over the world. This event was proving that the Airborne Brotherhood really does exists. Everyone was pulling together to help. One notable event was Pathfinder Holland(our own guys) presenting all the Pathfinder Instructors with a Pathfinder Sweat vest they had designed and paid for themselves (Well they will have when everyone pays Eric what they owe him. Subtle reminder)Just as well as I was running out of clean t-shirts.
Back to the course. The ground training went well and lots of coffee was drunk in between lessons while we waited for the winds to drop. Around Wednesday the weather turned bad and we wondered if the course would get all its jumps in. Pathfinder Ireland were hosting Bob Lindsay a British Para vet who was enjoying himself watching us put the new guys through their paces. Stu Rich had travelled all the way from Australia on a trip of a lifetime. A Polish Airborne reenactor he had travelled over with a group of other Polish reenactors to experience Arnhem for the first time. He had never jumped before but had gambled everything on being able to qualify on the course and then get the opportunity to jump at Ginkle heath for the 65th anniversary. We had hoped to get him down onto Driel, the Polish DZ but unfortunately he would not be able to get in 25 qualifying jumps in time so we persuaded him to settle for Ginkle.
Provided he completed the course safely. Every jump he was too do had to be a good one. If not he would not qualify for the anniversary jump.  By now the weather was not looking good and we all wondered if the course would complete let alone Arnhem go ahead.

Thursday we got the window we wanted and started jumping the course. Robert, our club pilot knew how important it was for the guys to do a stand up exit and made his AN2 available for us to jump first.The Cessna Caravan 'helicopter' exit was then taught so the course jumpers could do both a sit down or a stand up exit without any dramas.
By Friday everyone had qualified, been presented their wings and we started to make our way to Arnhem and the various hotels and camp sites everyone had booked into.
Now its someone else's turn to tell the story.
Ed. .
 
Jumpers in attendance.
Instructors
 
Ian Marshall     Pathfinder UK
Roy Mobsby    Pathfinder UK
Lance Owens  Pathfinder UK 
 
Assistant.
Herve Steimer  Pathfinder France
 
Students.
1/ John Davies      Pathfinder UK 
2/ Louis Verhagen Pathfinder Holland 
3/ Stu Rich            Pathfinder Australia.                              
4/ Daire                Pathfinder Ireland                                     
5/ Kim                  Pathfinder Ireland
6/ Barry Ring         Pathfinder UK 
7/ Eric Taillefer      Pathfinder France
 
 

Casual jumpers.
1/ Gary Young Pathfinder USA
2/ Austin                Pathfinder Ireland.
3/ Stewart              Pathfinder Ireland.
4/ Dave                  Pathfinder Ireland.
5/ Owen                 Pathfinder Ireland.
5/ Nick Bird.          Pathfinder UK
7/ Norman Gibson  Pathfinder  UK
8/ Pete Dahl           Pathfinder Belgium
9/ Cees Jansen       Pathfinder Holland
10/ Henry               Pathfinder Ireland.
11/ Mike Sherren  Pathfinder Holland
 
 
Tandem,
 Callum Marshall
Spectator
Bruce Lindsay  Life member 
Heather Nardone.

 

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by Gary Young Pathfinder USA.
 

    Becoming a Life Member was very easy. All I had to do was being born 30 years too early.

My first experience with a parachute was in the fall of 1944 when my mother obtained a large white parachute panel which somebody had taken down from a tree. Souvenir from the Battle for Arnhem.  She  made blouses for my brother and me. We hated those slippery silk shirts. My military career was very short.

 

     After high school I applied for flight training in the Royal Netherlands Air Force but was not accepted as I was “still too immature.” Some time later I applied again and was accepted. We wore parachutes but we weren't trained to jump. During one instrument flight with the instructor in the front and I in the back “under the hood” I had my second parachute experience when I almost made my first round canopy parachute exit. Following the instructor’s directions I was manoeuvring the aircraft turning, banking, levelling off, etc and getting air sick. Fortunately just before I barfed the instructor said that it was enough and he released the hood so I could see out again. I quickly opened the canopy, loosened my straps, took off my oxygen mask to lean out and throw up. At that moment the instructor rolled the aircraft upside down, I fell with my head against the canopy ledge, cutting a gash in my forehead. I held on for dear life. About 10,000 feet below I saw the town of Breda and the prison with its green cupper domed roof. The mask was flapping in the slipstream and creating a lot of noise in the instructors ear phones. He immediately turned the plane right side up while yelling “What happened? What happened?” I often thought about what it would have been like if I had fallen out and floated into the town of Breda . I learned to fly but screwed up and never made it to a squadron.

 

 

     I took a parachute course in England sometime in the early sixties. S/L round canopy, jumping or rather climbing from a Piper Tri Pacer. I didn't continue as shortly after that I moved to the USA .

Piper Tri Pacer of the type Gary started to jump from.
 

    About two years ago I attended an air show in Duxford. Right in front of where we were seated “Drag Em Oot” was parked and I said to my wife that I would love to jump from a C-47 and that there must be someone who would take my money and let me do that. She advised to Google it and that’s how I got in touch with Pathfinder UK . Not long there after I made 5 jumps at Teuge. On the third jump I performed a downwind landing right in front of  Sgt Roy Mobsby. He was yelling something about my face and the wind but  I was too busy watching a tall tree that was heading towards me.. Roy  was not very pleased with my performance. On the fourth jump I faced the wind as he had  “suggested” but  hurt my back. The next morning it was extremely difficult to get dressed especially lacing up my boots was time consuming and painful. Yet the last jump was successful even though I had to get up and stand in the aircraft’s aisle most of the 3000 mile flight home. Fractured lumbar vertebra. Therefore I couldn't participate in the Arnhem jump in 2008. Physical therapy and exercises cured the problem . Last September I had the great pleasure and honour to jump the Ginkel Heath DZ which was a fantastic and emotional experience. I am looking forward to the next opportunity to jump with Pathfinder.

Gary Young

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My story.

Just in time for Market Garden I did my 5 jumps at Teuge during the last week of July.

It was my first meeting with Roy and it was really fun. His humor and his stories made the weekend relaxed and made me less nervous for the jumps.

After the theory I made my first jump, but never came close to the DZ. I had to learn how to stear but knew soon enough you can't go against the wind. I missed the DZ, the campsite and the trees, but landed out of sight. As I was instructed I stood up and waved, but to who? Roy came soon after I was ready with my chute and was 'disappointed' I had not been able to find the middle of the field. His humor had not left him.

During my second jump I was allowed to see some theory in practise. When you're not hooked up right you really need your reserve and you're hit the ground sooner than the others. I cannot thank Roy enough for showing me all this.

After three jumps I had enough for the weekend and left the last two jumps for some days later. As Roy described the first jumps are easier because everything is new and you have no time to think. Along with that change in feeling I also started to feel my muscles.

But I finished the course and even had the (historical) experience to land in a field with cowes. 

And then it was waiting for some months and waiting for the manifest. First I was out for Ginkel Heath, then I was in, then an engine of the Dakota was exploded and I might be out again, then I was in again, but when I arrived the evening before to get my chute I didn't get it, because it was not certain everybody could jump. All in all it was a nice trick to keep my mind off the jump. Finally I got a chute, got a place in the bus for Teuge and got a place in the Cessna. And then it was all over within 15 minutes. It was a great feeling to jump Ginkel and to see the veterans who did the real thing.

What stays with me is a proud feeling and the photos that make other sick just by looking at it and imaging being close to that door when it opens...

Thank you and keep up the good work.

Edward Bocker Pathfinder Holland.

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Teuge Sept 2009 - Eric Taillefer ,Pathfinder France

After months of irritating paper work there I was : Teuge in Holland . The place looks like any general aviation compound anywhere else . A main concrete runway and a grass secondary one, busy with Para clubs, flight schools and the unavoidable pub restaurant . But now I had to find Pathfinder headquarters .

  After asking for help from a local, I was directed toward the bar lounge where I met the friendly team of Pathfinder Ireland . These guys helped me out with the B and B accommodation booked for me by Roy . About Roy. Where is this guy I've never met ? Not arrived yet. Well, I'll have some beers with the Irish squad while I wait . The eight of us resting in the small room were awaken in the middle of the night by some geezer noisily arriving . This was our Roy who had finally managed to get off the boat. (Something to do with the flares he was carrying being logged on as explosives and so he was placed on a later cargo ferry. He is still complaining about it now.) I'd never thought I'd meet the Pathfinder leadership in such 'awakening' circumstance .

    Breakfast . There I met Lance Owen, Ian Marshall and his kid Callum . The course was now all complete . Ten of us including a female jumper from Ireland, Stu Rich coming from as far as Australia , Garry and Bob from USA , several of the group from Ireland , England , Belgium, Holland and Herve and myself from France.

   We were ably instructed by Ian Marshall (Former Red Devils) about what to do and what not to do in parachuting .  

    This was followed by the unavoidable landing drills. PLF (Parachute Landing Fall's) as they say in the British army . It must have looked quite funny to the many civilian spectators watching us, all in military outfits performing rolls in the grass under much “ enthusiastic encouragement” from former Para Sergeant Roy Mobsby .

    A word about the aircraft . We used the Antonov AN 2 'Colt' used so ably by the former Soviet Union to train its Paratroopers to practice standing up exit;s and the Cessna Caravan for our 'Sit down' 'Helicopter style' exit . Followed two boring days waiting around for the weather to improve things finally started to happen . This morning the wind had dropped sufficiently to allow the round canopies to jump . After quickly kitting up we boarded the AN2 . The muffled exhaust of the Dutch aircraft and the hard runway made for a strangely quite taxiing and take off . After having thrown the Wind drift Indicator streamers our jumpmaster Ian corrected the pilot for the final run in . We found ourselves quickly at despatch stations with the No1 in the door and staring into space.On went the bell and jump light . Even in English the commands sounded so familiar : Stand up ! Hook up ! – Check Equipments ! – Action Station ! and finally– Go !

    Stepping forward, heart pulsing above max rate with one thing in mind : don't fuck the exit up ! This door just seems to get smaller every time I jump it . Off I went, feeling Ian's hand on my arm .The shock of the parachute opening finally took all the pressure off me and I could now relax. Having assessed the drift I quietly directed my Parachute toward the landing zone . I could already hear Roy shouting “encouragement” ."Bunch of w*****s". "Turn into wind "! Once down, all safe and in one piece the DZ van took us to the hangar where we repacked our chutes for the next jump .

    The four others jumps followed in rapid succession and eventually we were all presented our Dutch B wings thanks to Roy and his team .

In conclusion:

I enjoyed the general spirit of the course, my fellow students, the instructors both as human beings and as professionals, the standards of the course, the parachute MC1-C .

My only complaint is the accommodation could have been cheaper. Holland has always been expensive but when you see what you get for your money in other European countries it does make you compare.

I look forward to jumping with Pathfinder in other countries . See you soon mates .

                                                                                 Eric Taillefer ,Pathfinder France

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'No shit there I was. I nearly died'
By Kim. Pathfinder Ireland.
 
    For all the stories that one can legitimately start with the above sentence I think you chaps are justified more than most. After a whirlwind week of using the words 'parachuting', 'head cases', 'shit scared' and 'unreal' in every conversation the time has come to put pen to paper so to speak and get it all out there. 

    The first and most powerful part of the course for me were the people. Before we even got off the ground in Ireland we had excellent help and support from all sides, Austin, Dave and Roy via text, email, phone - whatever was needed. Our only point of confusion was the 'weight' issue that had Ber eating salads for 2 weeks before the course in a effort to break the 95kg barrier for the first time since he was 15. We came pretty much prepared and settled well into the boiler room. 
 The first intro to the course was exactly as it should have been - I was scared and sure I was going to die...anything else after that was a bonus. To meet Ian for the first time and within minutes know I would trust him with my life is a feeling that is almost a step above love, skipping all the slobbery messy bits and heading straight to the bit where you say 'I do' - you trust him when he tells you its ok to jump out of a plane 2000ft off the ground. As for the course itself the ground work and classroom work was spot on, there is something so nice about NOT having to sit in front of a power point presentation for hours. The only bit of the course we would have liked to spend time on before we jumped was packing chutes. After the first jump as we were p-l-f I found myself wishing that we had had more set instruction,

 it seemed like there were 5 ways to do something and everyone had a different idea what was the best way. As for the jumps themselves I was terrified each and every time, before the 2nd was worse than before the 1st, before the 3rd I was wondering 'why' and before the 4th I was sure I was insane. I enjoyed the 5th jump and finished on a high so to speak. The Arnhem weekend was a superb experience and we look forward to getting up in the skies next year for some commemorative experience. As a female it was a relatively 'clean' experience, other than the boiler room nearly exploding with all the combined male noise and gases. I can not thank everyone enough, especially Roy, Ian and Austin for making it happen. It was fantastic to meet those of the 'older generation', Gary and Bruce are an inspiration and a credit to Pathfinder. Ber shares the same sentiments, except maybe the 'I Do' bit, he's a bit shy in that area at the best of times. He has scratched a 20 year itch by doing this course and loved every minute of it. From us both we extend our sincere thanks and look forward to meeting everyone again sometime soon..

Kim and Ber

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By Paddy Green
 
     Our DC3 aircraft took off from Lelystad Airport Wednesday afternoon bound for Eindhoven. Shortly after take off, Mark Edwards, the engineer, noticed falling oil pressure and rising oil temp.in the Port engine, so they throttled back. Condition continued to deteriorate so they commenced return to the field and on short finals, the engine started backfiring badly, so they closed it down and landed on the single engine.

  Mark checked the oil filter and found it full of metal. This means the main bearing has collapsed and the engines a write-off. It had done 1200 hours (which is the maximum allowed under UK registration). The Yanks let these engines go to 1600 hours though and we`re US registered. Unfortunately, this one wont get there!

  The Dakota was designed to fly and climb on 1 engine, even at maximum weight, so the very short period immediately after take off when the airspeed is low, is the most vulnerable time and when the engines are already at full throttle. That's when this one decided to give up on us. Given a good long runway, like Eindhoven, this is no problem as the pilot simply puts the aircraft back on the runway. Hence never flying heavy from short runways like Lelystad!

  ED  In a nutshell had the aircraft been loaded with 24 jumpers it would most likely have gone in. However thanks to Paddies highly trained crew the old girl has been successfully landed on one engine and once repaired will be flying again.No one was hurt which is really all that matters. We look forward to jumping from her in 2010.

 

C-47A  N1944A  43-15211

Type                         C-47A-80-DL (Douglas type DC-3A-456).

 

14/02/44                   Built by Douglas at Long Beach, California.

 

19/02/44                   Accepted by USAAF

 

25/02/44                   Departed Long Beach for Baer Field, Indiana (via Oklahoma City and Terra Haute)

 

01/03/44                   Accepted by USAAF. Ser No. 43-15211 Airframe time: 2:55.

 

01/03/44                   Arrived at Baer Field, Indiana

 

13/03/44                   Departed Baer Field, Indiana for Morrison Field, Florida

 

15/03/44                   Arrived at Morrison Field, Florida

 

16/03/44                   Departed Morrison Field, FL for 8th AF, England. Shipping code "SOXO", the pilot was 2nd Lt Russell W Barron Jr. according to his cadet friend ‘Bud’ Berry who ferried 43-15213 over the same route during this period. Barron was killed when the C-47 that he was in crashed in the hills north of Brighton on the 19th November ’44. That aircraft was 43-15046 which flew alongside ‘213 on the ‘Albany’ mission.

 

20/05/44                   To 92nd TCS, coded ‘J8-B’, AAF Station 482 Balderton, Northamptonshire, England. (439th Troop Carrier Group, 53rd Troop Carrier Wing. 9th AF). Assigned to Major Cecil E. Petty, Squadron C.O.

28/05/44                   Stationed AAF Station 462 Upottery, Devon, England.

06/06/44                   43-15211, flown by Maj. Petty, took part in Mission ‘Albany’ dropping elements of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, most probably the Headquarters Company of 2nd Battalion, on the eve of D-Day over Drop Zone ‘C’ near St. Marie du-Mont.

 

                                 The Troopers landed close to the hamlet of Ecoqueneouville, most likely due to extremely heavy flak forcing the crews to drop short of the DZ as other members of the formation further back witnessed a German flak gun situated on the train line north of St. Mere Eglise opening-up on aircraft in front of them. The Map below shows the drop pattern:

07/06/44                   The 439th TCG led by Maj. Woodrow Smeck tow a mixture of 50 Horsa and Waco gliders over to Normandy, releasing them over Landing Zone ‘W’, 3 miles south of St Mere Eglise. All aircraft return safely to base except for one which landed at Warmwell on one engine.

 

24/06/44                   75 C-47s of the 439th fly a re-supply mission from Ramsbury and Greenham Common to strips A-2 and A-6 near the ‘Utah’ beachhead, escorted by Spitfires and P-47s. ‘211 would have brought in a mix of either 105mm shells, 155mm shells and/or .30 cal ammunition. On the return flight to Upottery the unit undertook a medical evacuation mission.

 

 

18/07/44                   Unit moved to Orbetello, north of Rome in preparation for Operation Anvil/Dragoon, The Invasion of the South of France. While in this theatre the unit carried out transport and medical evacuation missions in support of the Allied campaign in Italy which had recently Liberated Rome.

 

15/08/44                   Operation Anvil/Dragoon – Mission ‘Albatross’ – The various Troop Carrier Groups drop French Commandos and British and American Airborne Units between Toulon and Cannes, near to Le Muy in the South of France. Maj. Petty flew this aircraft in the initial paradrop in ‘211 but 1st Lt. Lavern H. Mays used the aircraft for the follow up Glider mission, ‘Dove’, later in the day.

 

08/09/44                   Stationed AAF Station A-68 Juvincourt, France, sharing the field with P-47s of the 367th FG

 

17/09/44                   Flying from Balderton, UK, the 439th drop 388 Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne as part of Operation ‘Market’ south of Nijmegen, Holland.

 

28/09/44                   Stationed AAF Station A-45 Lonrai, near Alençon, France.

 

06/11/44                   Stationed AAF Station A-39 Chateaudun, France. During this time the unit took part in Troop Transport and supply-dropping missions in support of the counter-offensive against German forces in the Ardennes which took place from 16/12/44 until early January ’45. The unit was particularly involved with re-supply missions to the beleaguered town of Bastogne, which the German flak guns hit heavily; many aircraft and their crews were lost.

 

24/03/45                   Operation Varsity – The Rhine Crossing – the 439th ‘double tow’ CG-4A ‘Haig’ through the worst flak yet encountered by the Troop Carriers, compared to the high-intensity barrages which hit for short periods over Bastogne, the enemy fire on this mission was on a totally different scale. Their plight was not helped by the fact that the UK press printed news of the coming operation just prior to it. The unit pressed on to release over the ‘LZs’ near Wesel in Germany.

 

May-45                            The 439th are one of the many units assigned to repatriate freed POWs, the photo

below shows French POWs being returned to Le Bourget, Paris, 43-15211 is the second aircraft from the left.

 

 

30/05/45                          Transferred to the 29th TCS (Sqd. code N3 or Z7), AAF Station B-54 Achiet, France (313th TCG, 52nd TCW, 9th AF).

 

05/12/45                          70th Fgt. Wg., AAF Station Neubiberg. Germany.

 

05/12/45                          913th Air. Eng., AAF Station R-28

 

26/07/45                          98th Bombardment Wing, AAF Station R-6 Kitzingen, Germany.

 

??/10/45                          Station Namur, Belgium.

 

11/09/46                          160th Tac. Rec. Sqd. AAF Station R-30 Furth, Germany (10th Rec. Grp.).

 

20/09/46                          43rd ADGrp., AAF Station R-91 Erding, Germany

 

03/12/46                          28th ACRS. AAF Station R-91 Erding. Germany (43rd ADGrp.).

 

01/05/47                          45th ARS, AAF Station R-91 Erding, Germany (43rd ADGrp.).

 

01/01/48                          501. AC & WGrp., Wiesbaden AB, Germany

 

23/03/48                          10. ADG, Oberpfaffenhofen AB, Germany

 

01/07/48                          60.TCG, Kaufbeuren AB, Germany

 

09/08/48                          7212th Maint. Sqd., Erding AB, Germany (EAD).

 

01/10/48                          7160.ABG, Wiesbaden AB, Germany

 

22/12/48                          7165. Composite Wg., Wiesbaden AB, Germany

 

01/06/49                          60.ABG, Wiesbaden AB, Germany

 

25/07/49                          85th ABGrp.. Erding AB. Germany.

 

29/11/49                          85. Maint. Grp., Erding AB, Germany

29/12/49                          85. Maint. Grp., Erding AB, Germany

 

20/03/50                          85. Maint. Grp., Erding AB, Germany

28/06/50                          85. Maint. Grp., Erding AB, Germany

 

19/04/50                          61st ABGrp., Rhein-Main AB. Germany.

 

19/05/50                          85th Maint. Grp.. Erding AB, Germany (85`'' ADWg.).

 

29/06/50                          Royal Norwegian AF – serial 315211 (Total 3930 hrs)

 

20/11/50                          USAF (Aircraft transferred to Government of Norway). (Mutual Defense Aid

                                        Program).

 

??/11/50                           335th Sqd.. Gardermoen AB, Norway. Code: T-AL, changed to BW-B in 1951

 

21/02/55                          At FVFK. Kjeller AB. Norway.

 

07/10/55                          FVFK Kjeller Flystasjon (1200 hours overhaul + IRAN) (Total 6239:20 hrs)

24/11/55                          Overhaul completed

 

30/05/56                          Ferry Gardermoen, Norway – Vaerlose AB (?), Denmark as ”211” (Danish crew)

                                        (Total 6499:25 hrs)

 

                                        Aircraft on loan (from 6497:25 to 6592:10 hrs, = 94:45 hrs)

                                        Royal Norwegian AF c/s

 

11/07/56                          Handed over to Royal Danish AF as “211”.

 

                                        Danish serial 68/683 allocated, painted between 11/07/56 and 23/07/56

                                        Radio call sign: OVJBN

                                        Still natural finish and white top.

 

31/12/56                          status (Total 6890:15 hrs)

 

31/12/57                          status (Total 7290:50 hrs)

 

20/05/58                          4000 hrs overhaul completed by SAS. Aircraft painted in camouflage.

                                        (7396:15 hrs)

 

31/12/58                          status (Total 7657:25 hrs)

 

31/12/59                          status (Total 8026:45 hrs)

 

31/12/60                          status (Total 8222:25 hrs)

 

25/07/61                          Modification program (8379:40 hrs)

14/09/61                          completed

 

31/12/61                          status (Total 8496:50 hrs)

 

05/09/62                          IRAN and 11.PE (Total 8806:40 hrs)

                                        Danish serial changed to K-683

14/11/62                          completed

 

31/12/62                          status (Total 8847:50 hrs)

 

31/12/63                          status (Total 9371:25 hrs)

 

31/12/64                          status (Total 9841:00 hrs)

 

31/12/65                          status (Total 10.261:10 hrs)

 

31/12/66                          status (Total 10.686:20 hrs)

 

18/01/67                          IRAN and 16.PE (Total 10.686:20 hrs)

17/03/67                          completed

 

31/12/67                          status (Total 11.001:45 hrs)

 

31/12/68                          status (Total 11.311:35 hrs)

 

31/12/69                          status (Total 11.783:00 hrs)

 

15/10/70                          IRAN (Total 12.067:55 hrs)

                                        New one tone green camouflage

                                        R-1830-Super-92 engines

 

31/12/70                          status (Total 12.067:55 hrs)

 

05/01/71                          IRAN completed (Total 12.067:55 hrs)

 

31/12/71                          status (Total 12.447:55 hrs)

 

31/12/72                          status (Total 12.818:50 hrs)

 

30/04/73                          tailplane changed (damaged), Woodbridge AB, UK (Total 12.924:05 hrs)

 

31/12/73                          status (Total 13.138:50 hrs)

 

11/10/74                          Aircraft modified for installation of equipment to measure pollution. Equipment operated by the Danish Atomic Commission.

 

31/12/74                          status (Total 13.512:30 hrs)

 

31/12/75                          status (Total 13.852:10 hrs)

 

24/03/76                          IRAN and 5.PE (Total 13.940:20 hrs)

                                        Tailplane changed

                                        New glossy green camouflage

23/06/76                          completed

 

31/08/76                          K-683 Was NOT part in filming “A Bridge Too Far”.

                                        Aircraft involved were K-685, -687 and -688

 

31/12/76                          status (Total 14.113:50 hrs)

 

31/12/77                          status (Total 14.390:40 hrs)

 

23/09/77                          From C-47 cargo version to passenger version (Total 14.746:00 hrs)

 

31/12/77                          status (Total 14.746:00 hrs)

 

06/02/78                          completed (Total 14.746:00 hrs)

 

31/12/79                          status (Total 15.000:45 hrs)

 

31/12/80                          status (Total 15320:50 hrs)

 

25/05/81                          IRAN and 2. MAJOR (Total 15.416:40 hrs)

 

11/07/81                          25 years service in Royal Danish AF (Total 15.416:40 hrs)

 

17/09/81                          IRAN completed (Total 15.416:40 hrs)

 

31/12/81                          status (Total 15.493:50 hrs)

 

30/07/82                          Last flight with RDAF, retired from active military service..

 

31/07/82                          WFU (Total 15.601:40 hrs)

 

06/08/82                          VAERHVK (stored)

 

26/09/82                          Declared Surplus.

 

14/10/82                          Preparation for transfer to Valiant Air Command (N3239W)

 

18/10/82                          training flight (1:35 hrs)

 

20/10/82                          ferry Vaerlose – Stansted, UK (5:35 hrs)

 

24/10/82                          Stansted – Duxford, UK (0:50 hrs)

 

24/10/82                          Stored Duxford, UK (Total 15.611:15 hrs)

03/07/83                          Preparation for transfer back to Denmark

 

03/07/83                          Duxford-Stansted-Vaerloese (3:40 hrs)

 

03/07/83                          Overhaul Vaerloese (Total 15.614:55 hrs)

 

15/08/83                          Departed Vaerloese – ferry flight to USA

                                        (accompanied by K-684 – N3239T “Tico Belle”)

 

15/08/83                          Vaerloese-Sumburgh (4:15 hrs)

 

16/08/83                          Sumburgh-Vagar (Faroe Islands)-Keflavik (7:25 hrs)

 

17/08/83                          Keflavik-Kulusuk (Greenland) (3:00 hrs)

 

20/08/83                          Kulusuk-Narssarssuaq (2:35 hrs)

 

21/08/83                          Narssarssuaq-Goose Bay (Canada) (4:55 hrs)

 

22/08/83                          Goose Bay-Burlington (USA) (5:25 hrs)

 

23/08/83                          Burlington-McGuire-Dulles-Shenandoah Valley (4:40 hrs)

 

24/08/83                          Shenandoah Valley-New Smyrna Beach (3:45 hrs)

 

25/08/83                          New Smyrna Beach-Tico Airport (1:10 hrs)

                                        (approx. 37:10 hrs, Total c15.651:05 hrs)

 

05/09/88                          Purchased for rework and restoration by Doan Helicopter, flew Smyrna Beach.

 

01/09/89                          Airframe time 15.833:80.

 

01/04/97                          Purchased by Wings Venture, Connecticut, ferried to the UK in 1999. Major interior refit undertaken by Personal Plane Services at Booker Airfield to reconfigure the aircraft to Troop Carrying layout.

 

07/01/07                          Aircraft kept airworthy in the UK, initially at Kemble, Gloucestershire. Now hangared at Oxford Airport.

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By Gary Young Pathfinder USA
 
    In spite of all the commotion we managed to have a good time during the week prior to 9/19.
This was due to the good company and the Heineken Brouwerijen. Congratulations to those who still had to get their wings and managed to get their 5  jumps in on Thursday and Friday.
   
     My jump at the Ginkle Heath was the easiest one so far ending with a very soft landing thanks to
great skills, no doubt, but  somewhat assisted by the thick 1 foot high heather which presented a cushion. I made a nice PLF roll just to satisfy the audience of a family of four who had wandered on to the DZ. One of their daughters took a picture and promised to send it to me via a-mail. I hope she does as it'll probably be the only one to prove to my wife that I did it.
   
     Participating in the commemoration of Market Garden was an emotional one for me as I still have vivid memories of those days in 1944. The ceremony at the cemetery had some moments during which I had to wear my dark glasses to hide my emotion. I remember when we as little kids were laying flowers on the graves and I was surprised to see that so many soldiers had the same name : "unknown."
I feel honoured being a member of Pathfinder and I enjoyed the company of so many good buddies.
I am not as quick anymore as I would like to be and I want to thank those who offered assistance:
Austin for arranging lodging, , Henry  for being my navigator, Bernard and Nick for helping me with my bag, Eric who offered to stand down in case I got bumped off the Ginkle jump.
Last but foremost ( that an oxymoron ?) our fearless leader Roy Mobs :
Thanks for  all your  work, humour, perseverance, patience and lending me the "Garment ."
 
Gary Young.
 
That's OK Gary,thanks for giving me a nervous breakdown..well almost! Roy.

 

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Wolfheze

WOLFHEZE DZ

Market Garden 65th Anniversary – September 2009.

by Martin Fielden

 

    This was always going to be an emotional trip as long before September I knew this would be my last jump & a major remembrance for the remaining veterans . I've had the honour of jumping over Ginkle Heath from a Dakota on the 63rd anniversary and since then I've been preparing to jump on the 65th anniversary.

 

    Back in April 2009 I went over to Teuge in Holland with Pathfinder UK to re-certify for jumping this year. My jump was eventful as I had my air stolen which means you fall through the air to find clear air, if you don't steer away you end up leap-frogging the other person down to the ground. We both landed safely but it’s always a good lesson to see what you need to prepare for.

 

    Unlike the veterans who jumped X-Types in WWII without a reserve we have the advantage of jumping steerable rounds MC-1C’s plus having a reassuring reserve strapped tightly to our front. Steerable means avoiding a bit of barbed wire not landing in the centre of the X on the Drop Zone (DZ).

 

    Three members from 'Just Ordinary Men' (JOM) are jumping with Pathfinder this year, Ian Pope the JOM OC, Brian Kealy and myself. Were all on the same DZ’s which means we might be on the same plane loads.

Myself, Ian & Brian

 

Ian & I before having our chutes checked

 

    We all arrive on Wednesday 16th September to log in and find to our horror that the Dakota has a major engine failure, it was doing some flight checks when at 20 feet on take off one of the engines spluttered and had a major oil failure, the plane ‘Drag-Em-Oot’ landed safely however if she had been full we could have had a nasty landing. Pathfinder Holland are unable to get another Dakota as there aren't that many around with the static line jump cables fitted. The only one available (and there in the Arnhem area) is the BBMF Dakota and they wont let us use it even as the veterans have made it expressly clear they want to see a Dakota jumped at Ginkle Heath. We get the jump order for tomorrow and I write it on my hand Chalk 2 No 4 – I wont forget!.

 

Thursday 17th – Wolfheze 1200 feet

    We're up early for breakfast as we have to get to the airport and do full equipment checks. Chalk 1 with Ian and Brian is at 13:00 and Chalk 2 is at 14:00 with myself. We have secured some  AN2’'Colts' which mean we can at least do a standing exit. The 1st chalk will be met by veterans of the Glider regiment for the official unveiling of a monument and plaque at Wolfheze. Wolfheze was a Landing Zone (LZ) for the gliders and an DZ for the parachutists of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. Chalk 2 will fly over and drop as the ceremony has finished. Chalk 1 loaded up and set off at 12:30 leaving the remnants behind at the airport. At 12:35 we get our kit on and start our equipment checks, I look at the clock as it ticks to 13:00 hoping Chalk 1 goes well. One of the Pathfinder senior instructors comes along and tightens all my straps and makes sure they're safely stowed away – I'm ready!. We sit and wait in the sunshine for everyone to be checked.

 
The AN2 returns from Chalk 1, we struggle to our feet and walk up to the plane, the draft from the propeller starts to cool you down and you can smell the aviation exhaust. My heart rate goes up I clamber inside and sit on the ground in reverse stick order – I'm No 4. When the last person is aboard the door is closed as the pilot throttles the engine we start to roll, we taxi across the grass onto the runway ,we start to roll down the runway and within seconds were airborne on our way to the DZ. We have 2 AN2’s in formation to create the best display we can. I'm in the lead AN2. We fly on and bounce around for about 10 minutes before we are given a 5 minute warning. Then the order to stand is given by the jump master Brord. We once again struggle to our feet and hook up. We complete our equipment checks down the line. I hear ‘5 Ok’ and get tapped on the shoulder , I call ‘4 Ok’ and then ‘3 Ok’ , 2 Ok’ , ‘1 Ok – Stick ready Sir’ is called out. The door is opened and the wind whips round the cabin.  We bounce and roll as the jumpmaster calls out corrections to the pilot to ensure  we are on the correct run in.  The red jump light is on……then…….we wait……..still waiting……..Green on! GO! GO! GO!.  

I'm out and I can feel the chute tug open.  I look up to check canopy and the canopy isn't open fully. There’s no panic as this is what I've been trained to look out for.  I spot the twist in the rigging lines and kick out as Iv been taught  for the lines to ‘ping’ open just like on a swing. The canopy fully inflates and I can look around to make sure my airspace is clear. There are 12 of us in the air – all Canopies open OK and drifting in the breeze. I can see the smoke flare on the ground and the wind has come up slightly. I can see the fields we are supposed to land in, the trees to avoid, with the reserve field beyond.
    I then rearlise that everyone except me is dropping. I've hit a thermal and I'm not dropping as fast as everyone else, Im even rising!. The first field where Im supposed to land will be missed so I'm looking at the reserve field over the trees and the extended 1st field with the barbed wire. I steer to the centre of the field and see some of the stick landing. The AN2 comes round and I wave at the pilot – at least I can enjoy hanging around a bit longer. I start to come down but everyone else is already down on the DZ. I turn into wind to land then let the chute descend. At about 30ft I catch a slight guts of wind which just turns me slightly crosswind so I have an unexpeted harder landing…….I land and roll…..the chute doesn't come straight down but stays inflated in the breeze. I'm going to get dragged!....I start climbing the risers and pull the chute down. As I climb I'm being dragged but I start to feel the chute collapsing. This enables me to get up and run around the chute to make sure its collapsed. That drop was 65 years to the minute! Exactly to the minute!  Im the last man to land on Wolfheze DZ for the 65th anniversary – Chuffed and Honoured.
1/  Pete Dahl  Pathfinder Belgium 
2 / Bob Butner.    Pathfinder USA
3 / Henry Moroney Pathfinder Ireland
4/ Mario van Gerwen  Pathfinder Holland
5/ Dave Fanning  Pathfinder Ireland
6 / Stewert Fitzell  Pathfinder Ireland
7 / Tinnie van Schoor Pathfinder South Africa
8 / Jimmy Christensen Pathfinder Denmark
9 / Edwin Palland  Pathfinder Holland
10/ Martijn Moorrees Pathfinder Holland
11/ Jason Snailham Pathfinder UK
12/ Martin Fielden  Pathfinder UK 
13/ Norman Gibson Pathfinder UK
14/ Ian Pope  Pathfinder UK
15/ Brian Kealy Pathfinder UK
16/ Harvey Grenville Pathfinder UK
17Peter Bergman Pathfinder Holland
18 Charles Schaffer Pathfinder USA
19 Chris Goodall Pathfinder UK
20 Dennis Melia Pathfinder UK
21 Chris Brown Pathfinder UK
Ian Marshall
Callum Marshall

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The Wolfheze adventure.Sep 2009

The Wolfheze glider memorial
STOP PRESS: Father throws son out of a perfectly good aircraft at 9000 feet.
 
 
    Well you must admit its the sort of misleading newspaper headlines that we are used to getting in this day and age. Its true though, however the story behind it is an amazing feat of bravery for a twelve year old boy.

 
  Callum Marshall is just the same as any other kid his age, excitable,mischievous, full of energy. Sometimes when he is around you there is the urge to strangle him. What ever words you use to describe him,the word brave should always be used. Being brought up around parachutist and Paratroopers he is used to seeing his Dad Ian jumping out of aircraft and doing stupid things in the air however if anything that should have put him off being a parachutist. He has seen the good and bad parts of Parachuting. Dad coming home with broken bones having pushed the envelope just that bit too far. He has on the plus side seen his Dad make newspaper headlines around the world for being part of the record breaking 100 way canopy stack.
Did all this put him off? No. With the 65th anniversary of the Battle for Arnhem coming up he wanted to do something special. It wasn't enough that he had already collected a considerable amount of money around his home and school for the two charities we were supporting. So he pestered his dad to let him tandem jump with him into Arnhem. Now most fathers would jump ( No pun intended) at the chance of throwing their son out of an aircraft but Ian as senior dispatcher for the Pathfinder group knew he would be very busy and may not have the time or opportunity to do this. The Arnhem DZ was out of the question. Hundreds of Paratroopers in the air at the same time and aircraft space in the timetable was limited.The Arnhem committee had already said they didn't want square canopies in the air for the 65th Anniversary, only round chutes, so that was definitely out of the question.
    Then the Pathfinder group obtained clearance for an extra drop at Wolfheze Drop Zone before the main events that week so it was decided that the jump would be feasible. Callum spent most of the week at Teuge watching us put some of the new jumpers through their course and some of the older jumpers through a refresher jump ready for Arnhem.

  Rob the AN2 pilot and Ian   

The day of his Parachute jump dawned. As our Paratroopers geared up ready for the display jump so Ian prepared Callum for his adventure. He now looked a little nervous and listened intently to his instructions as he put on the Tandem harness which would attach him to his Dad in the 120 MPH free fall towards the earth..

 

For a 12 year old the novelty of watching us train wore off quickly and he became bored. That was obvious but what was also obvious was he had no fear of the coming parachute jump he was about to do. Like us he had faith in his fathers parachuting abilities. We are used to putting our lives in Ian and our other jumpmaster's hands but for a young lad this was an extreme leap of faith ( I didn't intend that pun either).

Callum test rides the Wellbike we were hoping to air drop.

  Pathfinder jumpers complete with Cpl Arnhem the Airborne charity bear.
Our pair of AN2 'Colt' wait on the Teuge runway for their passengers.

 

Exit over the Drop Zone.

Canopies over Wolfheze DZ.
   I was on the DZ covering the drop when our Military round canopy jumpers came tumbling out of the sky to land in the grassy Dutch meadow of Wolfheze. Field packing their parachutes in a hurry, they all dashed off for a presentation and dedication that was being made across the road. Consequently there was only about twenty of us and a few civilians to witness the event about to unfold. At around the 9000ft AGL mark, Callum attached to his father Ian tumbled out of the aircraft and hurtled earthwards.We could hear their downward whoosh of their passage through the air but cloud at about 3000ft prevented us from seeing them. Ian opened the chute above the clouds which any of you who have experienced free fall will know is an exhilarating experience. He then swooped the parachute through the clouds making sure he was landing safely in the middle of the DZ. We could hear Callum yelling at the top of his voice before we could see him as they broke through the clouds into clear sky. I think we can safely say he was enjoying himself.

 

 Ian landing soft as you like with Callum beaming a broad smile from ear to ear. As the DZ party helped collapse the nine cell Tandem chute and detached Callum from Ian he told his Dad that was great,can I do it again?

Ian and Callum on their final aproach.

....and in for a soft landing.

Can we do that again Dad?
  I think we now have him penciled in for a basic course at Teuge around the year 2014.
Later he and Ian were presented with a certificate for his jump onto an Historic wartime DZ during the 65th Anniversary of the original battle. Callum was also presented with his Pathfinder basic wings and told he now owes us two jumps.

  Opening the pannier at the memorial
   Now fear finally settled onto Callums face. When he returned home he now had to give a speech in front of his school mates and teachers on what he had just achieved. He wasn't looking forward to that.
 
    From all of us at Pathfinder around the world well done Callum. No matter how many jumps you do in the future should you decide to take up the sport I think we can safely say you will always remember that first one. On the Saturday Callum helped recover the Poppy Pannier from the Ginkle Heath DZ and lay the poppies at the Airborne memorial.

Ron Burgess sponsored Poppy lies amongst the many.

First stick out at Wolfheze.

Pathfinders over Wolfheze

A vintage line up at Eindhoven 18th Sep 2009

Line up at the monument.

Wolfheze DZ
   When you are old enough to drink you owe us a crate of beer for your first jump and I'm sure the Pathfinder membership will remember that.
    Finally the photos say it all.
ED.
Callum Marshalls diary. Arnhem through a Twelve years old eyes.
My Trip
 
My Dad
    My dad, Ian Marshall was a member of the Parachute Regiment. He has jumped with the Red Devils and has done over 10,000 jumps. He was in the army fighting terrorists all over the world.
 Saturday
    On Saturday we had breakfast which is very different to the food in England. Then we started to train people for their Dutch army wings and so they could jump at Arnhem. Later that day we had to do a lot of paper work and pack parachutes and reserves which took a long time. Then we had lunch which was soup but different to the soup in England. We then packed some more parachutes. Later we had supper and went to bed.
 Sunday
    We started packing again and then we started to practice parachute landing falls which is how to land on round parachutes. Later we went to see where a Lancaster bomber was shot down coming in over an airfield that was occupied by Germans after a bombing raid. After we did that we did some more training, followed by supper and bed.
 Monday
    On Monday I watched a “Bridge to far” which is where we are, so that was good then we started to pack again
 Tuesday
    On Tuesday the Wellbike arrived which is a bike they used in the war and the messengers used it. I got to have a go on it and this bike was also dropped into Arhnem  65 years ago. It was going to be dropped again by us
 Wednesday
     On Wednesday we went to meet some of the veterans like Dennis Cramp who was an original Pathfinder and we also met a veteran called Bruce who joined the army at the age of 19
 Thursday
    On Thursday morning we finished packing parachutes for all of the jumps that were happening over the weekend. After lunch I started to get ready to do my Tandem skydive. My dad gave me a safety briefing and prepared me for what was to happen. We took off from Teuge airfield in an Antonov aircraft and flew to Wolfheze. At approximately 1,200 feet 8 men wearing round parachutes jumped out. The plane then climbed to 8,000 feet at which point I jumped out strapped to my dad. I was quite scared at first but once in freefall I started to enjoy the experience! When the parachute opened my dad gave me the toggles so I could steer. We also did a 3G spiral turn which went up to 80 mph. The view from up there was great and I could see everything around for miles. The landing was smooth and for ages after I was on a big high! Wolfheze drop Zone is famous as it was used in the war by English Paratroopers.
 Friday
    On Friday we finished the course and they got there Dutch Wings and then we packed everything up for the next jump. 
 Saturday
    This is the day we watched the Ginkel Heath drop. There were over 300,000 spectators . Ginkle Heath is the biggest English drop zone.  later that day I drove  round in a jeep
Sunday
    We went to the cemetery where there was a big ceremony to remember all of the soldiers that fought to save us during the war. There were 3 two minute silences which were very moving. We then went to the famous pub called the Schoonaard where there was a memorial for Ten Para. Afterwards we headed home to catch the ferry at midnight. We got home at 2:00 o’clock in the morning after a very eventful and interesting week. 

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  The Overasselt Drop Zone was originally dropped onto by the 82nd Airborne Division but in the follow up action some British Airborne were also dropped onto the same DZ. When Pathfinder jumped onto the same DZ on the 18th of September 2009 it wasn't far from the real thing. We arrived at Eindhoven which was to be our mounting air field we were joined by members of the ADT an American group with similar aims to our own. The ADT would be jumping on the second lift and were dressed as 82nd Airborne troopers. Speaking to them a lot of their jumpers seemed to be retired National Guard. Also on the drop were two veterans who would be coming in by tandem. One aged 89 and the other 91.Very brave when you consider they had not jumped for years and last time was on static line. This time it would be from several thousand feet and in free fall. Definitely once Airborne always Airborne.
   
After a 45 min flight we dropped onto the DZ which was quite small bordered by pylons and a main road and a large river. Ground wind speed was in our favour and was virtual nil so everyone hit the target. Unfortunately due to what can only be classed as inexperience one of the tandem masters hit hard injuring the vet he was carrying. Luckily his injury was not serious. We had been briefed not to talk to the media but to pick up our chutes and get to the RV point as quickly as we could. Our chutes had to be repacked for the next jump so there was a sense of urgency.
     We also had to clear the DZ to give the ADT a clear landing zone. This meant we were unable to attend the ceremony taking place off the DZ. We accepted that because of the situation so it was a little disappointing when a member of Pathfinder Holland ran across to the media and started posing for the cameras. Still I suppose everyone wants their 15 seconds of fame. For the rest of us it was enough that we had the honour and privilege of jumping onto the War time DZ and honouring the veterans and the icing on the cake was two of them having the guts to jump in with us.
    The ADT came in on time and performed a very tight disciplined drop doing justice to the 82nd Airborne troopers they were representing. All in all it was a good jump.
 
Stewart Roxborough Pathfinder UK
 
Overasselt
  1/ Dave Fanning                Pathfinder Ireland
2/  Stewert Fitzell               Pathfinder Ireland
3/  Henry Morony               Pathfinder Ireland
4/  Mario van Gerwen       Pathfinder Holland
5/  Anton van Ensbergen Pathfinder Holland
6/  Stewert Roxborough  Pathfinder UK
7/  Marco Pruyssenare     Pathfinder Holland
8/  Roland Kaschner          Pathfinder Germany
9/  Stephane Hadjadje     Pathfinder Germany
10/ Raymond  Reinders   Pathfinder Germany
11/ Martijn Moorrees      Pathfinder Holland 
12/ Manfred  Schmitz      Pathfinder Germany
13/ Dennis Melia               Pathfinder UK

 

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Not just another DZ

Operation Market Garden September 17–25, 1944

This was an Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in World War II. It was the largest airborne operation of all time.

The operation plan's strategic context required the seizure of bridges across the Maas (Meuse River) and two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine) as well as several smaller canals and tributaries. Crossing the Lower Rhine would allow the Allies to outflank the Siegfried Lineand encircle the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. It made large-scale use of airborne forces whose tactical objectives were to secure a series of bridges over the main rivers of the German-occupied Netherlands and allow a rapid advance by armoured units into Northern Germany.

Initially the operation was successful and several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen were captured. However the ground force's advance was delayed by the demolition of a bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son, delaying the capture of the main road bridge over the Meuse until September 20. At Arnhem the British 1st Airborne Division encountered far stronger resistance than anticipated. In the ensuing battle only a small force managed to hold one end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them they were overrun on the 21st. The rest of the division, trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, had to be evacuated on the 25th. The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine in sufficient force, and the Rhine remained a barrier to their advance until the offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Wesel in March 1945.

Ginkle Heath story

 

    I arrived in Holland for the 65th anniversary of Market Garden, along with a large Pathfinder Ireland contingent, with the intention of jumping onto Ginkel Heath, DZ ‘Y’ once again. Once the manifest “problems” had been ironed out and that was only the night before Ginkel, could I relax and prepare for the jump. We were all disappointed to hear that the Dakota “DRAG-EM-OOT” was inoperable due to a blown engine and so for the anniversary jumps, alternative aircraft had to be sourced. 
The organisers’ 11th hour appeals to the Dutch military were unsuccessful. C-208s, kindly lent by Simon Woerlee, would be used for the drop due to the lower flying speeds of the Antonov's. So many aircraft were due in the air behind each other that the available AN2's would have been too slow and would hold up the faster C-130's coming up behind us. Come jump day, a truly international mix of Pathfinders took off from Teuge for the 10 min flight to Ginkel. Austin and Henry from Ireland and me would lead out our planes’ 1st stick. It was beginning to feel like a military jump because it was to be 1 DZ pass only with all jumpers out. With the landscape below us slowly changing from green field to heath, it was nearly jump-time. Our Jump master slid-up the door and began spotting for the DZ.
On “Action Stations” Austin sat in the door and at the same time the cargo bundle with all our Poppies and memorabilia inside was dispatched from the lead plane. That was our jump master's signal to start dropping us. Out went Austin and Henry with me following as quick as I could. I had no problems with flight or landing (and truth be told, unless you had the bad luck that the Dutch Airborne had dispatching a few years back, nobody could miss this DZ, even if they tried!). I collected a piece of heather as a memento (a Pathfinder tradition) and walked off to meet a very satisfied DZ Safety Officer Roy. He then laid out the poppies dropped in the wicker pannier at the memorial to all the Airborne soldiers who landed under fire onto a burning heath some 65 years ago.
 After watching the always-impressive Hercules drops, the second load of C-208s arrived with my brother David and Stewart. Then we all left for Wolfheze and some chute packing and a quick dash to Driel for the Polish drop. 

    We were honoured to have Mr Bruce Lindsay former 15 Para in our company. He had left England and had been living abroad for most of his life. This was his first ever trip to Arnhem.  He had been made a Life Member of Pathfinder earlier in the week during our run up Para course at Teuge. The next day we all attended the Oosterbeek commemoration at the Airborne cemetary which Bruce and all of us found deeply moving. It was also important for us as Irishmen to honour our own countrymen who fought and died in Allied service during WW2. Some of their graves can be found in Oosterbeek cemetery. Only by attending this ceremony can the true meaning of why we jump at Ginkle heath be understood. As Roy had said repeatedly during the year, Ginkel should be never treated as just another DZ. Europe has freedom today only because soldiers from the 1st Airborne Division and other Allied units gave their lives so we don't have to. We forget their deeds to our peril.

Owen

Pathfinder Ireland  

Ginkle Heath
 1/    Jason Snailham  Despatcher Pathfinder UK
2/     Peter Bergman                     Pathfinder Holland
3/     Martin.Fielden                      Pathfinder UK
4/     Denis Melia                         Pathfinder UK
5/     Roland Reyhill                     Pathfinder UK
6/     Henry Moroney                    Pathfinder Ireland
7/     Pete Dahl                            Pathfinder Belgium
8/    Stewart Fitzell                      Pathfinder Ireland
9/     Brian Kealy                                 Pathfinder UK
10/  Ian Dorling                                   Pathfinder UK
11/  Paul Cavanagh                           Pathfinder UK
12/  Dave Fanning                            Pathfinder Ireland
13/  Dave Rashbrook                       Pathfinder UK
14/  FP                                                   Pathfinder Holland
15/  Gary Jones                                  Pathfinder UK
16/  Ian Pope                                      Pathfinder UK
17/  Edward Bocker                         Pathfinder Holland
18/  Charles Schaffer                      Pathfinder USA
19/  Owen Fanning.                    Pathfinder Ireland
20/  Stuart McLaren                   Pathfinder UK
21/  Garry Young.                      Pathfinder UK
22/  Bob Ellis..                          Pathfinder UK
23/  Mario van Gerwen            Pathfinder Holland
24/ Michal Jeziorski,                 Pathfinder Poland
 
1/  Norman Gibson                   Pathfinder UK
2/  Arie Schuurman                  Pathfinder Holland
3/  Roy Taylor                          Pathfinder UK
4/  Ian Taylor.                          Pathfinder UK
5/  Tinie van  Schoor                Pathfinder South Africa
6/  Edwin Palland                    Pathfinder Holland
7/  Martijn Moorrees                Pathfinder Holland
8/  Stu Rich                            Pathfinder Australia 
9/   Roland Kaschner                   Pathfinder Germany
10/ Tony Ellis                         Pathfinder UK

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In 2008 Ian had a bright idea. I should know by now that Ian's bright ideas always get me into trouble. We wanted to do a bit of fund raising for the Airborne Forces Museum at Duxford which at the moment is housed in something akin to an inflatable tent. Not exactly the right way to present the history of one of the best Regiments in the British Army. The MOD had sold the ground the old museum stood in for housing development. As usual the faceless accountants who have successfully screwed our armed forces for so long now sold off the ground our museum stood in without a thought as to where all this history was going to go. 2 Million quid short of their goal there is no way the ABF museum can build its custom built hanger in time and so its been put into a temporary structure until the money can be raised. We intend to keep helping until they build the place.

Parachuted Bundle including the Poppies

 We had raised money for Help for Heroes which had now by far exceeded their own target figure by Millions of pounds and we had also raised money for Holidays for Heroes jumping with Cpl Hotspur one of the charities teddy bears. Because of the success of these charities others had suffered and so we decided we would raise money for the British Legion Poppy Appeal as well as the Airborne Forces Museum.
We needed something new to get people to give and give generously. Once again Ian had the bright idea of getting PAYPAL involved. A one-click system would be a good idea so people abroad who would not normally be able to make a donation can do so on their computers. The idea was to get people to give a pound to sponsor a Poppy petal which would then be dropped over the DZ in Holland. Unfortunately the best laid plans of mice and men.........Nick spent hours on the phone and on the computer trying to explain to PAYPAL that we were collectors not agents. A foreign help centre hadn't got a clue what we were talking about and sent us miles of red tape and paperwork all of which was totally useless to us. Secondly the powers that be in Holland didn't want ugly red poppies on their heath land even though we explained they were bio degradable.

Laying of the Poppies

 

  We decide to drop the poppies in a container along with donated memorabilia which would the be sold on e-bay or at auction to raise even more money for our charities. The Poppies would be laid at the DZ memorial.

Forms were sent out to our members and a few started collecting in earnest. A few other people from outside our ranks offered to help and the operation swung into motion. Keeping track of the donators to get them onto the web site was another problem.Some of the forms looked like a spider had written them.Nick had the bright idea of scanning them in and putting them on the web just as they were. At least the people who wrote them will know who they are .

During the run up to the Arnhem weekend the Pathfinder September course sat down one night and wrote several hundred names onto sponsored Poppy Petals. A Well Bike and Cylindrical container was delivered to us to be dropped as well as a wicker work WW2 reproduction container.Tony Ellis and myself spent a couple of hours working out the best way to rig and despatch the two containers. Each item was bubble wrapped an spaces were filled with polystyrene chipping's.

We reckoned that if the chute malfunctioned the canisters would continue bouncing down the DZ like an India rubber ball. A bonus for the project was being given permission to drop petals over the Airborne Forces cemetery at Oosterebeek on the Sunday. A further 60000 petals had been purchased for this event and things were looking good.

 Then disaster struck at the last minute. Paddy Green's Dakota blew an engine on take off and was extremely lucky to get back down on the airfield in one piece. Two Cessna's were supplied at the last minute by Simon Woerlee from the Dutch National Parachute centre at Teuge. His centre would loose money by doing this but he realised that this was the 65th anniversary and it would be a disaster if we didn't make the drop. It meant that we couldn't drop the Well Bike and canister safely so we had to abort that idea.The pannier was still in the games plan and so Tony and Ian rigged it for the drop. We had a dry run on the ground and consider it would be a safe feasible idea to drop it.

  I was concerned that we only had one pass and would be dropping from a far higher height than I was happy with.We were all worried that the pannier could drift towards the crowd if the winds gusted at the last minute.

On the DZ we waited for the run in. Ian phoned me for last minute instructions on the ground winds as they were running in behind the first C-130 Hercules and the Battle of Britain Flight DC3. Wind speed on the ground was light and I thought that everything was starting to go in our favour. With Stu marking the DZ with an Early dropping marker several hundred feet from the Personal Start dropping marker myself and Dennis positioned ourselves to recover the pannier.
The Cessna came in over the trees and the pannier sailed gracefully out of the aircraft door. The canopy deployed and the pannier landed with a gentle bump less than fifty feet from the main DZ marker.
Four of us carried the pannier (I didn't realise how bloody heavy it was filled with all the donated items) across the DZ,through the crowd and up to the memorial.

The pannier was unpacked and I was pleased to find everything intact. Not a dent or break in anything. I think I'm going to send the SRT to 47 Air Despatch Sqn. It was a very successful drop. I laid the poppies gently at the foot of the memorial making a red carpet for other to lay their wreaths. Petals with names on them spread between my fingers as I spread them across the base of the monolith. Each one dedicated to a love one who has passed away. It was a very emotional moment.

  I walked slowly back to the pannier and helped carry it to one of our DZ parties jeeps to be recovered back to our car park.
We now have lots of memorabilia to use to raise more money for our chosen charities. I would like to thank everyone who has made a donation of either money or items to be used to raise further funds. At the moment we have just over £1000 and hope to raise more so thank you one and all.
 
    The only sad part of the whole affair was the aborted Poppy drop on Sunday due to low cloud however they can always be used next year.
 . Thanks once again.
Roy
 
Roy Mobsby
Jump/Operations Coordinator
Pathfinder Parachute Group UK
http://www.pathfindergroupuk.com/

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Polish paratroopers enter the battle

After two days of delay due to the weather, the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade under Major-General Stanislaw Sosabowski entered the battle on the afternoon of September 21, delivered at about 17:15 by 114 C-47s of the U.S. 61st and 314th Troop Carrier Groups. Two of the brigade's three battalions were dropped amidst heavy German fire, opposite the 1st Airborne Division's position on a new drop zone south of the Rhine near the village of Driel. Poor coordination by the RAF and persistent attacks by Luftwaffe aircraft caused their supplies to be dropped 15 km (9 miles) away on the opposite side of the Rhine.

Intending to use the Heveadorp ferry to reinforce the division, they discovered that the opposite bank was dominated by the enemy and that the ferry was missing; it was later found downstream past the road bridge, unserviceable. Unable to help the British, the Polish withdrew to Driel for the night. The 1st Airborne Division made radio contact during the day with guns of the 64th Medium Regiment of XXX Corps' artillery which had advanced with the ground forces and were assigned to the division for support. Unlike many others, this radio link worked throughout the battle and the regiment provided valuable fire support to the division.

Driel

Drop Zone Driel September 19th 2009 

  To commemorate the parachute drop into Driel in 1944 we had arranged for a more experienced stick of our Pathfinder jumpers to complete this mission.The DZ was small as much of the original Drop Zone has been built on.  It had been decided that as it was a split DZ with plenty of obstacles only some of our most experienced jumpers would be able to land safely. Pawl Moszner and some of his Polish Pathfinder Group along with other members of Pathfinder dressed in authentic Polish WW2 uniform were on the manifest with a Polish reenactment group from Poland itself waiting for them on the DZ. Mike Sosabowski, grandson of the famous General would be jumping with a Tandem master.

Pawl (rear of the jeep) with two of his DZ crew from Pathfinder Poland.

Herve Steimer, Pathfinder France carrying his chute off the DZ

The weather was kind to us,blue skies and a light wind. We had popped red smoke on the aircraft run in to give the wind direction and the pilots aimed off accordingly. After a couple of circuits the aircraft dropped its first stick. The drop was extremely accurate thanks to the two jump-masters and all the jumpers were put down in the two or three fields that formed the centre of the drop zone.

Tony Ellis had borrowed a pair of my No 2 dress trousers as we didn't have a pair of battledress trousers to fit him. Sods law dictated that he would be the only jumper to land in the water filled ditches that surround every Dutch field. He surfaced looking (and smelling ) like the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon) Cheers Tony. I will never be able to wear them on parade again.They went to the laundry in a plastic bag marked 'Bio hazard'.
 
    Mike Sosabowski had a bit of a hard landing at the hands of the Tandem master who unfortunately failed to turn at the moment of landing and piled poor old Mike into the ground.He got up visibly shaken but smiling and like his Grandfather took it in his stride. Robert and the other Polish jumpers shook his had warmly and welcomed him to earth in Polish.It was a very emotional moment.

 

Some of the Polish group pose with Mike Sosabowski (centre) for the DZ photos.The smelly one is extreme right.

The Polish memorial in the village of Driel

Coming in for a hard landing

Pathfinder Poland with a Polish veteran.

After the drop the entire Polish group marched to the Engineers monument to take part in the ceremony there and to lay two wreaths in memory of the Engineers who died getting the troops across the river and too those of the Polish brigade who died during the drop and the crossing. At the end of the ceremony Pawl took the Poles to Driel to meet the Polish Embassy staff and too pay their respects to their veterans past and living of which of the latter there is very few left.

I took this moment to present the five Polish members on the drop with their commemorative certificates and congratulate them on a job well done.

Pawl address the group.

I had the honour of addressing a group of Poles at the site of a great Polish battle and had been granted the honour of wearing the Polish Airborne beret at the same time. Standing there next to the memorial and listening to Pawl addressing his contingent in Polish was for me a very humbling experience. The Polish Paratroopers had been dropped in too late to make any difference in the final outcome of the battle, it was already a forgone conclusion. Still they jumped into a Hornets nest and had tried and lost a great many paratroopers in that action.We owe the Poles a great debt which we can never hope to repay

Having just landed members of Pathfinder Poland stand to attention as a lone piper plays a lament.

On  the Sunday the entire Polish contingent with Polish reenactors from around the world took part in the march from the DZ to the bridge

A couple of achievements of which I was truly very happy were as follows.
    Stu Rich,a Polish reenactor came all the way from Australia with his small group.   He booked himself onto the Driel drop to be told he didn't have enough experience. He had never jumped before. He was to do the course with us the week before to get Para trained and provided he completed five jumps, the bare minimum for Ginkle heath he would be allowed to jump. he gambled on his nerve holding long enough for him to complete the course. It would be a new and completely unknown experience for him. Due to bad weather he was at first unable to jump but as the weather cleared he managed to complete all five jumps on the last two days of the course and his sixth jump was onto a wartime tactical DZ. He then took part in the march to the bridge and when I last saw him at the Schoonaard pub at Oosterbeek he was celebrating in style. I hope he has since managed to sober up and get back to Australia.Well done mate.You certainly earned your wings.
  Secondly to have a contingent of Polish former Paratroopers and military jumping at Driel seemed right. It was the first time the Poles had managed to send a contingent and I hope its not the last time. It is after all their DZ. They are the ones who have the right to jump there.The rest of us are just tourists.
    lastly Grzegorz Zajac, Pathfinder Poland travelled from Poland twice in order to complete his course and get his Dutch wings.At the same time he was getting himself in date for the Arnhem drop. Like Stu he was not qualified enough to jump at Driel but due to an admin error by Pathfinder Holland they had him down as 25 jumps instead of five. Grzegorz was surprised to find himself manifested for the drop but decided not to argue as he didn't want to upset anyone by having the manifest changed again.Yeh! right  mate. Like I would have held my hand up as well. Final note. I was surprised as hell when he walked up to me on the DZ with a big smile on his face.He had just landed on hallowed ground and he was proud of himself. Despite his inexperience he had landed safely on the DZ and had a few war stories to tell which I'm sure will get him a few free beers in the bar in his home town pub. Driel is just as important to the Poles as Ginkle heath is to any British Para and rightly so..Well done mate.Just don't do it again until you have a few more jumps under your belt.
ED.

Driel

1/   Mario van Gerwen      Pathfinder Holland
2/   Grzegorz Zajac,        Pathfinder Poland
3/   Edwin Palland           Pathfinder Holland
4/   Pawl Mosner            Pathfinder Poland
5/   Przemek Nocon       Pathfinder Poland
6/   Herve Steimer          Pathfinder France
7/   Marco Pruyssenare  Pathfinder Holland
8/   Charlie Brown          Pathfinder UK
9/   Jaroslaw Kaleczyc   Pathfinder Poland
10/  Robert Kryszfiak     Pathfinder Poland
11/  Tony Ellis               Pathfinder UK
12/  Dinat van Duuren    Pathfinder Holland
13/  Thierry Favry          Pathfinder France
14/  Jimmy Christensen Pathfinder Denmark
15/  Nick Bird.              Pathfinder UK
16/  Paul Corcoran        Pathfinder UK
17/  Robert Si'Ree        Pathfinder UK
18/ Martijn Moorrees    Pathfinder Holland
19/ Ian Marshal            Pathfinder UK
20/ Mike Sosabowski

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50th at the 65th Groesbeek DZ

 

    On Friday the 18th September 2009 I chalked up my 50th parachute decent when I jumped into the Groesbeek DZ during the 65th Operation Market Garden commemorations, it was without a doubt my most memorable drop yet ! 

There were about 30 of us scheduled to jump this 82nd Airborne DZ and we all met up at the campsite around 13:00 to catch the coach down to the military side of the Airport at Eindhoven . It took us a while to get down there due to traffic, but we still arrived in plenty of time and managed to talk our way past the Dutch Air Force security by claiming to be the same crew who came through in the a.m. (for the Overasselt jump). We arrived at the hangar to find a pan filling up with US and Royal Air Force C-130s, with our 2 Antonov's plus a single DC-3. As we had plenty of time we persuaded the Dutch Air Force to let us have some coffee from the urn laid on for the American and Polish Paras scheduled to arrive anytime soon, then we sat and marvelled at the rows and rows of LLPs laid out ready for 4 Para's jump the next day. A group of Polish Para's arrived and we discovered a few with English that we could chat with, then a panel van turned up with a group of ‘septic's’ in civvies and a whole mess load of T10s and reserves that they proceeded to stack along the back wall. The hangar was starting to look like the Pathfinder Quartermaster's wettest of wet dreams !! 
Peter Braun then gave us a ( nother) briefing and we were split up into lifts and sticks, I was to be in the 1st stick of the 2nd lift. As we'd all of us drawn and fitted the day before those of us on the 2nd lift helped the 22 guys on the 1st lift to kit up. The 1st lift was to be with both Antonov's, the white one carrying 12 jumpers and the silver one 10. The white Antonov was then to return for the remaining 9 jumpers, me included. As usual having got the guys kited up it was time to hurry up and wait... The Dutch guy managing movements on the Pan then gave our lads the call to load up and they all waddled off to the Ants, the engines were started and they taxied off to the end of the runway. The Antonov's then did a formation take off and I got some great photos of both of them lifting up and climbing away over the backs of the C-130s.
More hurry up and wait... After a half hour or so we got the word to kit up, then Jason did an equipment check and we sat down in stick order to wait for the Antonov. It duly arrived and the guy gave us the shout to head out to load up. We climbed on board in stick order, I was to be No.3 in the 1st stick with Cees right behind me. We taxied out and took off after about a 300m run down the 3,000m runway then climbed away and headed North. Peter our Jumpmaster left the door open for the whole of the 25 minute trip and there was the usual Crack during the ride. It was a beautiful day, blue skies, little cloud and not much wind to speak of. About 10 minutes out Peter got the first stick stood up and hooked up, and we did our equipment check. There was a bit of bouncing around as we lined up for the approach, Peter with his head out the door giving the Pilot corrections. Then it was 'Action Stations', we got the green and we were on our way...
I got a good exit, maybe not as tight behind No.2 as I might have liked, and rode the slipstream doing my count. Not even half a twist this time, so I could go straight to my all round observation and locate the DZ. The 5 of us had come out at about 1,200' so we didn't have all that much time to enjoy the view but being a big guy I was (as usual) in the middle of the stick so I was pretty well the best placed to make it to the centre of the DZ. I assessed my drift and ran and held as seemed appropriate making sure I kept out of the way of the other guys, ...and enjoyed the view, it truly was a glorious day. A couple of hundred feet up I turned into wind for the landing and 'assumed the position'. I thrapped in about 10m from the DZ's 'T' marker and went into a side right PLF, ...as my legs came over I could see that my canopy was not going to collapse, so as soon as my feet thumped into the ground I bounced straight up and started running around then canopy, ...it must have looked shit hot to the remaining spectators, like something out of a training film !  
Feeling pretty pleased with myself I packed up the canopy and walked over to the corner of the field that was the RV point to shoot the shit with the rest of the stick and the lads from the 1st lift. It was there that I met the 97 year old veteran of all 4 of the 82nd's combat jumps. This brought me back down to earth, ...here was a man who had not only jumped into this very DZ under fire in 1944 but also into Normandy earlier that same year, and into Salerno and Sicily the year before. It was a humbling experience to shake the hand of a man who's commitment and sacrifice in the mid-20th Century had ensured my freedom to play Para in the 21st. I got his autograph in my log book but beyond 'Carl' I didn't catch his name. This guy was huge, he had a good couple of inches on me (and I'm 6'1"), he looked like a man well used to an outdoor life, he looked younger, fitter and healthier than many of the spectators ! I'll be looking for him at the commemorations in 2010. Willem then got all the Pathfinders organised and marched us up to a nearby field where 2 MIAs from the 82nd are believed to have fallen. With families of the 2 men watching we saluted them and observed a minute silence to pay our respects to them and to all of those who fell during Market Garden.  

We then loaded ourselves back on the bus and headed back towards the campsite at Wolfheze, ...and With all the excitement I completely forgot to look for canopy fragments that can still be found in that DZ field. It was a privilege to be a small part of the 65th Market Garden commemorations and my 50th jump will stand out as one of the highlights of my parachuting career.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHft4jkQC88&feature=related 

Pete

 Click here to view the Video in the Pathfinder window
   
Groesbeek
1/   Eric Halberstadt          Pathfinder Holland 
2/  Mario van Gerwen        Pathfinder Holland 
3/ Dave Fanning               Pathfinder Ireland
4/ Stewert Fitzell              Pathfinder Ireland
5/ Henry Morony              Pathfinder Ireland                                                                                         
6/ Pete Dahl                    Pathfinder Belgium
7/ Tinni van Schoor           Pathfinder South Africa
8/ John Gibbs                  Pathfinder UK
9/ Helen Gibbs                Pathfinder UK
10/Edwin Palland             Pathfinder Holland
11/Renato Goldschmidt    Pathfinder Germany
12/ Roland Kaschner       Pathfinder Germany
13/ Ralf Haas                  Pathfinder Germany
14/ Martin Henke            Pathfinder Germany
15/ Pieter Bergman         Pathfinder Holland
16/  Manfred Schmitz      Pathfinder Germany
17/  Chris Goodall           Pathfinder UK
18/ Cees Janssen           Pathfinder Holland
19/ Nick Parker              Pathfinder UK
20/Stephen Martin          Pathfinder UK
21/Julian Neal                Pathfinder UK
22/Lange Regis             Pathfinder France
23/Martijn Moorrees       Pathfinder Holland

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Arnhem Trip 2009 from the veterans perspective.

P.R.A.Tyneside Branch  by Dave Berry Pathfinder UK

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