# Canadian Airborne Forces since 1942



## Gordon Angus Mackinlay (5 Oct 2006)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The prolific pens of Colonel Bernd Horn, and Michel Wyczynski have given us the newly published :

HORN Bernd, WYCZYNSKI Michel, plates C Chagas.  Canadian Airborne Forces since 1942.  Osprey Publishing, Elite Series No 143, Oxford, England, 2006. ISBN 1 84176 985 1.

As normal with the series, soft cover, 64 pages (8 colour prints).   

The book is basically a synopsis of the authors excellent and authoritative, 

HORN Bernd, WYCZYNSKI Michel. In Search of Pegasus. Vanwell Publishing, Ontario, 2001.

Even if you have the original text, this new book is well worth buying if just for the 48 photos (all except for 3 are new to my eyes) although one is that which has been published in every single book/article on the Cnd Abn Regt, of a L16 81mm mortar team in Cyprus 1974!  And for the eight pages of colour prints, seven each showing three figures throughout the period, and one of insignia.  These are excellent, although a universal white background to each page, is irritating in that it makes some of the uniforms of a light colour indistinct.

One photo is of interest in that it shows the experimental tan combat uniform used in Somalia.  It also shows the odd cheek extender fitted to the butt of the C7 rifle, with the equally odd "carry handle extender" for the battle scope, no one has been able to explain to me the reason for the 'dead end alley' modification, when the system currently used was already trialled and in production for commercial AR-15s in the US (any ideas as to the reason anyone???).

The last two pages deal with Afghanistan.  It is a pity that (published in August) did not have any reference to the formation of the CSOR!

The final paragraph of the section dealing with the Cnd Abn Regt, gives the finale of the regimental commanders address "Let the message be clear.  Those of us who serve the regiment today are not moving on in disgrace.  We have loyally and very credibly carried the standard of soldiering excellence passed to us from those paratroopers who came before.  We need not look down, but continue to hold our heads high and stare straight ahead, knowing we stood in the door and were always ready to do our duty." 

 Something that always needs to be remembered about the truly awful destruction of a dedicated and competent body of men.

A photo on the opposite page brings a smile to my lips, showing a abandoned BTR60 APC of the UN Bagladeshi contingent in Rwanda.  A very good friend of mine a Venezuelan, who is a long time UN field service employee, brought up last week when met, the story he always tells when we met.  Of how whilst the UN civil employees were awaiting aero-evacuation, the 245 Bangladeshi troops guarding Kigali airport, threw their weapons and boots away, and packed themselves aboard a SAFAIR C130 Hercules.  He and the other highly paid civvies had a couple of bowel loosening hours whilst awaiting its return!

The book is a excellent primer, even if you own In Search of Pegasus.  If you cannot find it in a bookshop, Osprey do a excellent airmail service.  For my constant purchase of their titles, it works out cheaper to buy direct, than to purchase in Australia (even with airmail costs), and the same would probably pertain to Canada/USA.

The last sentence of the text gives to me the ethos of the airborne soldier, although the use by the authors prior, of using 'warriors' to describe trained, disciplined soldiers annoys me.  When used the image(s) of inebriated, dirty, ignorant, festooned with weapons irregular Serbian/Middle Eastern/African 'warriors' come to mind.

"Consistently, they have been recognised as the more adventurous, aggressive, motivated, and physically fit soldiers in the Army, and the 'can-do' attitude of paratroopers everywhere is a central tenet of their human and military character."

Its reading takes me back forty odd years to a wings parade.

Well recommended.

Yours,
Jock in Sydney


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## xavier (11 Oct 2006)

Gordon:
 Thanks for the review. An excellent booklet for the modeler as well as a useful intro to the Candian paras. I have in search of Pegasus as well and the colour photos of the post war ops are fantastic model 1/6th action figure kitbash ideas. As for the white background, that's typical Osprey  
Actually, it's cheaper to buy the booklets via amazon.ca. No need to worry about teh exchange rate or the relatively high shipping costs. Thanks to Amazon's 29$ and get free shipping option, I bought mine cheaply.


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