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1 Para jumping....

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  • #16
    Re: 1 Para jumping....

    Same ere Chris burra got conned at the fukkin labour exchange, only other options wo bus conductor or bin man dint fancy wearin them fukkin uniforms!

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    • #17
      Re: 1 Para jumping....

      Tone, we had graders and bulldozers dropped in on the heavy drop mate. Knackered the hydraulics on them,burst pipes and oil everywhere. Didn't know the strip was an old Luftwaffe one, learn something every day cheers mate !
      Bob (geordie) Watts

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      • #18
        Re: 1 Para jumping....

        It might not have been Bob. I just remember blokes on about it....
        Where was it El Afrag or Al Mansoura or summat

        I will never forget this

        www.don-simmonds.co.uk/argosy.htm

        Brigade blokes were 7RHA if i remember right and 1 3Para bloke.
        Hi Don
        I don't know if you are still adding to your site but if you are I was also there on detachment from 38GP TCW RAF Tangmere. My memories are similar to others but different in that some of us heard that pilots had been specifically forbidden by the CO to buzz the airfield but it was rumoured that this particular Argosy pilot in the mess the night before had said that he was going to do so regardless. So the next day, by the Commcen a couple of us were watching out to see if he would do what the rumour suggested.
        He took off and disappeared over the ridge and we thought that was that but a short while later on the radio we heard him request permission from air traffic control (a tent with a plastic window near the water tower) to make a run past the tower as he suspected he may have a problem with his undercarriage and he wanted them to do a visual.
        We thought they would suspect his motives but permission was granted and we saw someone standing outside the tower tent with a pair of binoculars, which were totally unnecessary as when he came over the ridge shortly afterwards he came in quite fast and low over the tent so low that he looked like he might actually hit it but instead his wing clipped the nearby water tower and was damaged.
        The plane faltered but looked like it was going to recover until a wing dropped, hitting the ground, resulting in a cartwheel followed by a somersault and finally crashing and breaking open.
        It did not catch fire immediately but after a short delay of deadly silence. The fire engine raced out to it and the hoses were run out but it seemed like forever before they operated and I remember the firemen looking back at the fire engine wondering why nothing was happening.
        I remember paper from classified documents (mainly restricted from flight manuals) flying around in the air which we had to collect and the nose wheel narrowly missed demolishing a few tents as it rolled off into the desert. It was recovered by landrover a mile or so away from the crash site.If my recollection is right my mate Ian Cubby also from TCW was due to fly out on that plane but was offloaded along with others for whatever reason thereby saving their lives and ultimately sealing the fate of the higher priority passengers


        Last edited by trubrit2411; 16 October 2019, 15:08.
        "If they control your speech.....they control your life"
        Me


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        • #19
          Re: 1 Para jumping....

          Yes, it was 7 RHA lads onboard; a full gun sub with their 105mm also. I knew a couple of the lads, not close mates but enough to say Hallo to, when we passed. It would have been all over for them in an instant. RIP.

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          • #20
            Re: 1 Para jumping....

            Sad day for all, RIP guys.
            Bob (geordie) Watts

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