THE MAN WHO TESTED PARACHUTES: Charles Agate and the Development of Britain's Airborne Forces for D-Day and Arnhem

1-248700

Tells the story of an ordinary man who took extraordinary risks, and the men and women who served alongside him. It also remembers the young recruits who died before they were able to take part in the key battles for which they were being trained. Charles Agate's daring parachute testing at RAF Ringway transformed airborne warfare, while his post-war struggles reveal a complex legacy. By 1940 the Allies had fallen behind the Axis powers in parachute design and research. Other than as a means of escape from a doomed aircraft, the British regarded parachuting as of little military value. All that changed when the Germans used paratroops, the Fallschirmjager, to devastating effect in the invasion of the Low Countries, and Churchill demanded immediate action. Between 1941 and 1945 Agate and his fellow Parachute Jump Instructors (PJIs) completed thousands of jumps, often from low altitude or using prototype parachutes. They jumped carrying heavy kit bags, had sandbags strapped to their legs, and landed in deep freezing water. They also trained thousands of raw recruits for the key airborne operations of the war, as well as over 600 Special Operation Executive agents for dropping into enemy territory, frequently accompanying them as dispatchers on these hazardous flights. Contains 16 mono illustrations.