Tatton Park

Paratroopers board a Whitley Bomber prior to a training exercise, 1940.

Recruit pulling in a parachute container after dropping, Ringway.

Parachute training using a barrage balloon at Ringway. This method of training was still used into the 1990s.

Shot of a parachute training descent with container immediately on exiting the aircraft over Tatton Park.

Parachutes drying at Tatton Park prior to being repacked.

Possibly the first training fatality from a parachute failing to open (centre left).

An acrobatic exit from a Whitley aircraft during a training jump.

Recruit collapses his parachute after landing at Tatton Park.

Recruit in training lands in parachute position.

Visit to Ringway from Queen Elizabeth and King George VI.

Recruit about to jump from a parachute tower possibly at Ringway.

Equipped troops are briefed prior to training jumps from a Whitley aircraft.

Troops emplaning for air familiarisation training before jumping.

Men receive their parachute wings in a presentation on successful completion of their jump training.

Recruits emplaning prior to a training jump at Ringway. Note number two is carrying his parachute container.

Men of 1st Parachute Battalion line up to emplane an aircraft.

Posed photo of troops practising rallying on the drop zone.

Posed photo of paratroopers ready for action after discarded their parachutes.

Brigadier Gale, King George VI and Major Dobie inspect troops at Ringway.

Members of an early parachute course assemble prior to an aircraft descent.

Posed shot of two equiped paratroopers ready to emplane.

Early paratrooper wearing a specially constructed helmet.

Early paratrooper looks at the camera prior to a training exercise.

Line of paratroops showing the early parachute smock and experimental head protection.

Photo shows an early weapons container which holds the stick's guns during the drop.

Three paratroopers wearing early experimental head protection.

Four paratroopers carry a container to their aircraft ready for load in.

Early paratroopers wearing the locally manufactured rubber "Flash Gordon" helmet, c1940.

RAF jump instructor makes final checks of parachute harnesses prior to emplaning.

A parachute course assembles prior to a final descent which is done en masse.

A later parachute course parade at Ringway. Notice the Wellington aircraft on the right.

Paratroops recruits emplane for the first time.

Early shot of men emplaning prior to parachute descent.

Details of the drop zone are briefed to troops with a map on an aircraft wing.

Paratroopers emplaning for a training exercise.

Numbering off of sticks prior to emplaning Whitley aircraft. Aircraft crew look on.

A stick of parachutists march in a line to emplane a Whitley aircraft.

Parachute trainees climb into a balloon cage prior to a training jump.

Shot from a raised balloon cage for training jumps. A parachute stick wait on the ground.

Early paratrooper adopts correct jumping position on exiting the aircraft over Tatton Park.

Paratrooper has just exited the aircraft. He holds a container and is attached to the plane by his release strop.

Cartoon of parachuting instructors and staff at Ringway, February 1944.

Paratroopers training in a Douglas Dakota aircraft. The strop is attached to the floor of the aircraft.

Number 1 of the stick stands in the door of a Dakota ready to jump.

Paratrooper looks out a Douglas Dakota aircraft window for briefed landmarks on approaching the drop zone.

Paratroopers getting ready for training jumps out of a Douglas Dakota aircraft.

Last minute map check before training jump from a Douglas Dakota.

The first of a parachute stick waits for the green light before jumping from the aircraft.

Ted Pool exiting from a Dakota for a lake landing, Tatton Park c.1945

The Airborne Memorial at the Drop Zone on Tatton Park

Parachute training drop, Tatton Park

Parachutists descend to land on a DZ at Tatton Park, after exiting Whitley bombers

Parachute instructor lands and starts to collapse his parachute, Tatton Park, 1940-1

General Sir John Dill inspects a parachute with 11 SAS at Tatton Park December 1940

Paratroopers in leather RAF B Type helmets, being inspected by General Sir John Dill, c1940.

Paratroopers descend from Whitley aircraft, possibly Tatton Park, Manchester, 1941-43.

Parachute troops in air after a training jump, Tatton Park, 9 Jan 1941

Parachute training descent with kitbags at Tatton Park, April 1944