The 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment Veterans Reunion at No1 Parachute Training School as guests of 99 Squadron who fly C17.

Left side of group Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	The veterans Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Right side of group Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

Sir James & Brian McCombe shaking hands and The Squadron Leader and members of No1 Parachute Training School being given Commemorative mugs of our visit. Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Some of the members of the Old D Company Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Some of the members of the Old D Company Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

These reunions are held by the members of "D" Company of 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, and one is normally held every year. and has been now for over a dozen years. These events have often taken place around or near 1 Para Barracks when they are in situe so to speak. The group that hold this reunion are the men that served with unit between 1955/1957 and were at Cyprus & Suez although even the Regimental records state we were never there [so much for the records].
This was an odd time for the army as a whole, but the Regiment was made up at that time with about a third of WW 2 Vets who had fought endless list of battles.
Another third were Regular Army Soldiers and many of these were National Servicemen working the 22 year option. This meant by signing on for 22 years they got the maximum pay and privileges and had a three option to leave every three years with any costs to themselves. The other third were like me who had drifted into the Regiment for one reason or another and were doing just there National Service which meant you only had half a regulars pay plus your Para pay which just about made bearable.
With this mix of men at this time most went on to do well for themselves either in the forces or when they left the Army, now I will try and list some of them of note.
Our O/C Major James Spicer, after he left went into politics and became Minister Of Defence for a while and became Sir James.
2nd L/t Bob Hennessey 10 platoons officer left the Para's found civvy street a bit boring and asked if could come back and was refused by the MoD. Well he applied for the Australian Army became the most decorated soldier since the end of WW2 while he was in Vietnam. He rose to the rank of Colonel and ran the Australian Military Academy for quite for years, he passed sadly away some years back.
2nd L/t Taylor who had 12 platoon, his story was much the same as Bobs he left and they did not want him back, but he went to Canada rose to the Rank L/t Colonel and ran the Canadian Staff college for a number of years.
Now I wont go through the rank and file but most of them have done very well, so it must be that independent air that you get from being in the Para's.

Bryan Tab Hunter.

The Parachute Training School

Standard operational kit carried when you jump Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Some of the basic munitions and rations that you will carry Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Some of the basic munitions and rations that you will carry Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

The inside of the mock C130 teaches to hook up, and do the Para shuffle to the door before being dispatched Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	The higher jump platform, there are rubber mats below Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	A view down the empty hanager Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window
Side view of the C130 mock up high and low Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Flight harnesses Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Flight harnesses ect; Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

Large kit carrier Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Smaller Kit carrrier Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Flight trainers Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window
Flight trainers Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Flight trainers Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Flight trainers Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

C17 Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Mighty Engine Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Flt Lt Jackson the Pilot of this C17 and 2 Loadmasters Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window
Another inside shot Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Looking at the side of the plane then you can see the tip up seats, and along the walls the storage areas for strops and hooks to hold the cargo down. In the yellow boxes along the bottom of the picrure are the rotar blades for the helicopter. Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Just another inside shot Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

Loadmaster work station Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Cockpit Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Switches behind the pilot, the whole of this cabin was covered in Teflor amour plate Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window
Cockpit Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Tip up seats Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	VC10 overhaul Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

US Air Force C17 Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window	Click Image for Larger Version Note: Opens in New Window

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This is the inside of a C17 ready for a drop of Para's

No. 99 Squadron
1929 - Formed at Yatesbury.
1940 - Flew during WWII as part of Bomber Command.
1945 - Converted from bombers to become a Transport Command Squadron.

No 99 Squadron was formed on 15 August 1927 at Yatesbury from a nucleus supplied by No. 13 Training Squadron. In April 1918 it received DH9s and moved at the end of the month to France as a day bomber Squadron. As a unit of No. 41 Wing, it joined the Independent Force on its formation in June and took part in attacks on German industrial targets for the rest of the war. Re-equipment with DH9As began in September 1918 and these were taken to India in May 1919, where the Squadron was renumbered 27 Squadron on 1 April 1920. On 1 April 1924, No. 99 reformed at Netheravon with Vimys, moving two months later to Bircham Newton where it re-equipped with Aldershots. These large single-engined bombers were replaced by Hyderabads at the end of 1925 and by its development, the Hinaidi, over a period of fifteen months from October 1929.

Heyfords began to arrive in November 1933 and were flown until the Squadron converted to Wellingtons in October 1938. Leaflet-dropping flights were made over Germany from September 1939 and bombing raids began with the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. These continued until 14 January 1942, when the Squadron ceased operations in the UK and left for India. After being split up for a period, No. 99 reassembled at Ambala on 6 June 1942 and began night bombing raids on Japanese bases in Burma in November. In September 1944, the Squadron converted to Liberators for long-range attacks and in July 1945 moved to the Cocos Islands in preparation for the invasion of Malaya. After flying some anti-shipping strikes over the Dutch East Indies the Squadron was disbanded on 15 November 1945.

On 17 November 1945, No. 99 reformed at Lyneham with Yorks as a transport Squadron and re-equipped with Hastings in August 1949. During the Suez operations, the Squadron dropped parachute troops on Port Said from bases in Cyprus and in the summer of 1959 it received Britannias. These were flown on the main routes of Transport Command and its successor, Air Support Command, around the world, until disbandment on 6 January 1976. The first of 4 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, leased to meet the Royal Air Force's short term strategic airlifter requirement, arrived in May 2001. No. 99 Squadron was reformed earlier in the year to operate the aircraft in the strategic airlift role at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

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