First Blackburn Beverley at KL, Malaya 1958.
Please click on the pictures to enlarge.
The Beverley arrived at RAF Kuala Lumpur and we all went to to the airfield to view this massive aircraft, what a size, dwarfed all the others, its dimensions, wing span 162ft, length 95ft, height 37ft, with the rear doors removed it could drop large platforms, these platforms had four extra large parachutes, so it was now possible to drop a Land Rover, in order to demonstrate its capabilities a large load was arranged { a one ton platform } the whole demonstration was to include all parachutists in 55 Coy not on flying duties, plus men from 22 SAS Regiment and other units, the SAS men went on the Beverley, there were about 36 who jumped out of the tailplane boom, our OC was on it also, the rest of the paras were to arrive at the jump zone at Kajang about 30 miles from KL by Valettas, I was on the second one.
The Platform dropped from the Beverley.
The Valettas were first to arrive at the drop zone, we all went out as a stick, one after another, on the way down the landing area looked as if it was a rice field and I didn't relish the idea of getting soaked, luckily I came down softly and managed to land without rolling on the ground, I quickly gathered up my parachute so it would not get waterlogged, then carried it to an RAF wagon that was the collection point.
We watched the Beverley drop its paras and the platform, quite an impressive sight, then we were told that they were issuing parachutes for all personnel to have a drop from a helicopter,
With so many waiting to get on the helicopter we were told that the 22 SAS had preference and we would have to hand back our chutes and prepare to return to camp, we watched the helicopter jumps and sadly got onto our transport and returned to RAF KL, it had been a pleasant Sunday outing.
More photos of the Beverley.
This Beverley was used for the 22 SAS attack on terrorists with a massed drop into the jungle onto trees that were over 200ft high, unfortunately a few suffered injuries but the mission was a success.
The best outcome of the Exercise was that being as Kajang was a Black Area all 55 Coy Para personnel at Kajang were awarded Full Parachute Wings.
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