Photographs & Stories - Carrick Watson
“These photographs were taken 1958/59 when I was at Abingdon on the Permanent Staff of PCAU. I was REME Airborne attached to the Parachute Regiment at the School. The Beverley was a great plane to jump from, much better and easier than the Hastings which we also used. My own favourite was to jump from the top deck, just step into the hole in the floor .... and awayyyyyyyyyyyy.”
BELOW: A Beverley carrying out a Heavy Drop. “The Beverley was the first Aircraft I saw reversing, I thought the pilot had done something wrong!! I once hitched a lift in a Beverley, trying to hitchike back to Scotland for the weekend. It was going to RAF Dishforth from Abingdon, so I got off there, took a shortcut across the runway to get onto the road and promptly got picked up by the MPs for being in an unauthorised place, taken back to the Control Tower and given a right dressing down!! Such is life, but I did make it home!!”
ABOVE: First MSP (Medium Stressed Platform) with parachutes deploying.
ABOVE: The second MSP is pulled from the Beverley by its extractor parachute.