Falcons' freefall (From Barry And District News)

Falcons' freefall

THE RAF Falcons parachute display team who jumped at Sunday's Barry Festival of Transport included a former Judo instructor from Cadoxton.

"You've got to be flipping bonkers, Mel Jones told his brother Mick, as he prepared to hurl himself from the back of a Lockheed Hercules as it flew 12,000 ft above Barry Docks.

Thirty-eight-year-old Mick grew up in Forester Street and until 1990 was a judo instructor at Barry Leisure Centre.

He said: "We freefall for about 40 seconds travelling towards the ground at a speed of 120 mph before the parachutes come open. It's exhilarating. A really amazing feeling."

Since 1996, Mick, a former pupil of Barry Boys Comprehensive School, has been a full-time member of the RAF Falcons who perform around 150 parachute display jumps at events up and down the country between May and September each year.

Mick first joined the RAF as a Physical Training Instructor and served five years overseas in Germany and Belgium before concentrating on parachute training.

He said: "I still have a brother, a sister and lots of friends living in the Barry area. I try to get back as often as I can to catch up.

"I used to work as a barman in Horatio's in High Street."

All members of the Falcons are parachute instructors who provide training for members of all three armed forces at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

On Sunday at the Barry Festival of Transport the Falcons performed their High Show.

The first jumpers out of the plane were linked as a group of four followed in rapid succession by three pairs of skydivers or trackers.

Last year Mick went with the Falcons to South Africa where the warm weather allowed new members of the team to practice the art of display parachuting.

l For Waterfront pictures turn to page 26