When I say I come from Abingdon it often brings back a memory in people. At breakfast yesterday we met a man and his wife from Ontario in Canada. He had once been in the RAF as a parachutist and did some of his training at RAF Abingdon around 1952. During his time there he did some parachuting as part of the making of the film Red Berets, partly filmed at RAF Abingdon.
The film starred Alan Ladd as an American who enlists in the British Parachute Regiment in 1940, claiming to be a Canadian. The RAF Parachute Training School was at RAF Abingdon from 1950 to 1976.
I remember watching those parachute jumps from the blimp from the playing fields of St. helen’s.
My step brother-in-Law, did his jump training at Abingdon. Early 70’s