PATHFINDER
PARACHUTE GROUP
EUROPE
Simon Chambers (author of Keepers of the Gateway
to Hell) tells us how one UK-based group is
bringing history to life – and you can be part of it!
H
is eyes watered as he stuck his
face firmly into the slipstream
and squinted. About a mile away
on the horizon he could see the
outline of the Sannerville Drop
Zone approaching fast. Pulling himself back
into the lumbering Douglas Dakota transport
aircraft he peered around the first Paratrooper
in the stick and waved to catch the attention of
the loadmaster. “Five right!” he shouted and
confirmed with a hand signal. The loadmaster
cupped his hand over his radio mike to drown
out the engine noise and repeated the request
to the pilot. Ian felt the aircraft jerk ever so
slightly; a quick glance out the door confirmed
the pilot had made the course correction.
Ian looked at Roy and smiled. The rest of
the stick behind him were all hyped up. They
058
March 2012
were about to jump onto the Sannerville
DZ in Normandy, a DZ no one had jumped
onto since WWII. Pathfinder had been given
permission by the Mayor to do just that. The
honour was not lost on any of them.
Two-thirds of the aircraft’s 24 jumpers were
former Paratroopers from several different
countries; the rest were historians, re-enactors
and airborne enthusiasts. You have to be a
very serious enthusiast to do this, though: it’s
not cheap and it’s a high risk sport. Still, there
is no shortage of jumpers.
Each man had purchased reproduction
uniform of the period representing most of
the Allied airborne contingents involved in
the original operation. They were all using
green round military parachutes and would
be jumping static line (not freefall). Apart
from the fact that they were using steerable