A man has jumped out of an aeroplane that took part in Operation Market Garden in the Second World War as part of a time travelling experience.

Lee Newins, a former member of the 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, realised his dream of 25 years and became ‘Number 1 in the Door’ and parachuting out of a twin-engine Douglas C-47 Skytrain, known also as a Dakota, that originally took part in the 1944 Operation ‘Market Garden’ at Arnhem in Holland.

When serving with the Army, Lee had always wanted to jump out of a C-47, but when these ‘esteemed ladies’ were bought out of retirement for the big commemorative events, such as Normandy and Arnhem, the lower ranks were invariably ‘back-squadded’ to parachute from the RAF’s C-130 Hercules.

“So about a year ago” Lee said, “I looked this up on the internet and couldn’t believe what I found - the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team.

“As a former serving Paratrooper, I was originally allocated two jumps here at the school, but managed four, all static-line and from 1,500-feet.

“While being under canopy again was a fantastic experience, the real icing on the cake was always going to be meeting and listening to the veterans who were actually there at the time of conflict.

“Over the years I have always considered how lucky I am to be in a position to hear their experiences first-hand”.

After a week-and-a-half’s vigorous ground training and jump operations, the Fall Jump School culminated in a ‘pinning ceremony’ at the Hanger Open Day where the qualifying students, of which Lee was one, were presented with their ‘wings’ by one of the Veterans in attendance.

In Lee’s case, fate lent a hand as he proudly received his award personally from 95-year old Norwood W Thomas, a former paratrooper with the 101st US Airborne Division who parachuted into Normandy on ‘D-Day’ and again later near Nijmegen in Holland for Operation ‘Market Garden’.

Mr Thomas also served under fire at Bastogne during the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ and finally entering the Eagles Nest, Hitler’s mountain retreat high above Berchtesgaden, at the end of the war in Europe.

Lee had previously spent many hours in the company of this venerable gentleman, one of the original ‘Band of Brothers’, hanging on to every word of his captivating stories, recounted with such clarity one would be forgiven for thinking that they had occurred only the day before.

Another first for the school, and Lee in particular, was that his initial jump was undertaken from a C-49 christened ‘Wild Kat’. This was the first time that the aircraft had been used as a jump platform in its 76-year history. The event was filmed and reported on the state TV news.

Taking part in the exercise, Lee felt “respectfully privileged” to be able represent both his former battalion, and by wearing an authentic 1944 Second World War period uniform, those British military personnel who served and fell alongside their US Airborne allies.

Having enjoyed a real ‘1940’s time-travel’ experience, coupled with “excellent training, instructors and equipment, including of course, the historic aircraft, and whilst setting the foundations for new life-long friendships” Lee said this might not be the end of his parachuting association with the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team, in fact he called it “merely the beginning”.