First Jump

Pupils on a British Army Parachute Training Course make their first descent from a tethered balloon.

This painting was commissioned by a man who went through this course during his Army training back in the early 1950s. One of his most vivid memories was of this first jump from a tethered barrage balloon which in many ways was more frightening than jumping from an aeroplane. Cars would stop to watch the pupils jump from the ‘basket’ and on the day that he did his, a hearse pulled up! I just couldn’t resist including this detail in what is one of my more unusual commissions!