Russell Phillips<p>Researching my next book, I've come across the sort of thing that <span class="h-card"><a href="https://mastodon.me.uk/@DreadShips" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>DreadShips</span></a></span> usually posts.</p><p>In 1940, Churchill decided that Britain needed a force of paratroopers, and so directed the army to create a 5,000-strong force immediately. The army set to work, ably helped by their very good friends (cough) in the RAF.</p><p>Unfortunately, there weren't many people in Britain at the time who knew how to parachute. One RAF instructor, when asked how many jumps he had done, replied "Done? Done? Nobody has done any jumps yet!"</p><p>The few people that did have experience were daredevil parachutists — in the inter-war period, they'd stand on the wings of a biplane at air shows, then pull their parachute rip cord. The parachute would pull them off the wing, and they'd float down to the ground.</p><p>One of these daredevils was Harry Ward, aka The Yorkshire Birdman, who would start his descent on a set of wings. He was recruited to the school as an instructor.</p><p>The parachute school didn't have biplanes, but it did have some old Whitley bombers. So they removed the rear turret and fitted a platform. The parachutist would stand on the platform, facing the aircraft and holding onto a bar. At the relevant time, he would pull the rip cord and the parachute would deploy and pull him off the aircraft. Training materials noted the importance of the pupil not trying to hold onto the aircraft.</p><p>Bizarrely, instructors believed this method would "instil greater confidence in pupils". But in practice, the pupils hated it. Within a few months, the practice had been discontinued.</p><p><a href="https://gts.phillipsuk.org/tags/histodons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>histodons</span></a> <a href="https://gts.phillipsuk.org/tags/militaryhistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MilitaryHistory</span></a> <a href="https://gts.phillipsuk.org/tags/secondworldwar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SecondWorldWar</span></a> <a href="https://gts.phillipsuk.org/tags/history" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>history</span></a><br><span class="h-card"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>histodons</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/militaryhistory" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>militaryhistory</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/worldwarshistory" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>worldwarshistory</span></a></span></p>