Lance Corporal Peter Gowens

Pete 'Charlie' Gowens was a colourful character who enlisted into The Parachute Regiment aged 18 years and became a freefall expert .

He qualified as a static line military parachutist at Abingdon on course 482, which ran from 26 January to 23 February 1959, after completing P Company. He was posted to 1 PARA and joined the battalion’s sports freefall club.

Charlie was one of the original members of the first Parachute Regiment Freefall Display Team established under Lt Edward Gardener in 1964.

At the time of its formation Charlie was one of the team’s more experienced freefall jumpers (with about 100 jumps) and became the team’s first Cutaway Jumper. As well as being a dramatic and awe inspiring sight, a Cutaway Jump is a highly skilled and precise manoeuvre and Charlie Gowens was a fine exponent of this technique.

The jumper exits the aircraft and free falls to approximately 4000 feet attaining speeds of up to 120 miles per hour. After opening his first parachute, orientation and positioning for the DZ, the jumper causes a canopy collapse and then jettisons the chute completely.

This is the 'Cutaway'. The parachutist then goes back into free fall until he opens his main parachute at 2000 feet. He then steers in for the display arena and lands safely. The canopy which has been cutaway meanwhile floats down to land some distance away.

That’s the theory anyway. But not all of Charlie’s display jumps went smoothly. On one jump he fell short of the display arena and descended into the showground car park. He went through the cloth sunroof of a car with one of his smoke canisters still discharging. The owner returned not only to find his roof ripped but the interior a new shade of orange!

After leaving the Army Charlie had a varied career which included mercenary work in Angola and latterly worked for the Charity Commission before finally retiring. While working for the Commission he was not averse to reminding his line managers of his prowess in unarmed combat, particularly during appraisals! A greater contrast between two forms of employment is hard to imagine.

Charlie died on 29 June 2007, aged 66 years.