Royal Australian Army Paratroop Training WWII

From the archives of Warbirds Online we today present a series of photos gathered from an unknown WWII parachute trainee taken at RAAF base Richmond thought to be in December 1943. With the advent of WWII being fought in a jungle environment in the Pacific theatre and the emergence of more and more Parachute operations carried out by the Army, especially by Commando units the need to have a specialized training facility for this expanding form of deployment of troops into the battlefield became clear.

The first military parachute training unit in Australia was the Paratroop Training Unit (PTU), formed at Laverton in Victoria on 3 November 1942. On 16 November 1942 PTU was relocated to Tocumwal in NSW. PTU was subsequently transferred to RAAF Base Richmond on 6 April 1943 until it was disbanded at the end of WWII, in 1945.

These images although generally of poor quality give an insight to the training environment of the time.

Among the photos are some taken during a graduation / presentation ceremony at Richmond at the end of a course.  One image depicts a Medical Sergeant loaded down with a seemingly impossible amount of gear which the caption in the album states includes “ Medic Orderly Kit and Stretcher “ which illustrates the difficult and stressful nature of the WWII parachute units deployment.

Also of interest is the use of a unique Australian invention the “Storepedo” fitted underneath a DC2 of the RAAF. “The Australian Inventions Directorate headed by Sir Laurence Hartnett, tasked the Ordnance Production Directorate to produce a solution. G.W Griffiths, on a secondment with the directorate, came up with the answer to examine the problem -a shock absorbent heavy-gauge wire netting container to absorb the impact. Griffiths named this an ‘Aeropak’. The design also allows for a parachute to be attached to slow the descent. The design was refined by Morris & Walker Pty Ltd of Melbourne. The printing firm added a three foot cardboard cylinder to carry 250lbs. A hessian parachute was also added. The nose cone is hollow which also takes a proportion on the impact. “per the AWM

The Storepedo was an Australian patented invention and carries the names of E.R. Campbell, K.M. Frewin, F.W. Lennox and R.P. Morris on the application for Patent.

Another of the photos depicts a “wind” machine being utilized to simulate strong winds the trainees would have had to contend with upon landing – it appears to have been constructed on a vehicle frame using a redundant Radial aircraft engine and prop.

Several of the photos depict RAAF DC2 aircraft although identification of the individual aircraft is not clear. We would welcome any comments which would highlight the identity of any of the aircraft depicted in the photographs. The apparent use of the emblem on the aircraft in one of the DC2 photographs suggests it is A30-11 c/s VHC-RE sqn. code RE-B named “Maaleesh”?

We hope you enjoy these great memories of a bygone time.

© John Parker 2020

Warbirds Online acknowledges and is grateful for the use of some material in this story from the Australian War Memorial website.