THE DENIS (CHARLIE) BUCHAN STORY

-Memories of a great time with friends and colleagues at No 1 PTS New Sarum

. Denis Buchan known as Charlie by everybody was the epitomy of the best possible PJI. He was short in stature extremely neat and tidy in appearance had a cheerful attitude but had bite when giving orders..,One took him for granted at one's peril.Charlie was a very experienced British Soldier who had served with Britain's 22nd SAS in Borneo and in Yemen and Oman. Charlie was the only person I know who was able to take down morse code being sent at speed by another, PJI Ralph More. Charlie was also an excellent weapons instructor and explosives expert, in fact a very handy chap to have around in the Parachute Training School It was not long before Charlie was promoted to FLt/Sgt then Warrant Officer and he became my Operations Officer as an Air/Lt. Charlie was awarded the Commander's commendation for saving the life of a helicopter pilot when  their aircraft hit power lines and crashed into a dam. Charlie's cool actions and sound judgement in releasing the pilots harness from the up turned helicopter undoubtedly saved his life. As far as I was concerned Charlie Buchan had the most amazing ability to turn the ordinary RAT PACK into a gourmet feast fit for any table.As usual Charlie Buchan's Story is almost all of the amusing times we had and very little of the deadly serious times we had, in other words a typical serviceman's story. I am sure you will enjoy his tale. Last but not least Charlie Buchan is the only person I know who looks the same now as he did 40 years ago. Must be the brand of Scotch you drink Charlie.  Derek de Kock  

Hi Derek

  As requested I am going to attempt to cast my memory back a long time ,and hopefully give some input to the book about the school. My first recollection of the school was Boet Swart calmly informing us new, hopeful recruits that he personally Hated Parachuting. Which we were soon to find out was very true. He would study the wind machine very carefully each morning and any wind over 5 knots was a definite NO NO. It was also quite nerve wracking watching our Trg Officer Derek each morning using I would guess about 3 or 4 metres of bandages for strapping around his knees. It doesn’t give one much confidence i’m  afraid.  What a happy bunch we were. Ralph the rat. Mike Wiltshire ,John Boynton,  Iain Bowen. Paul Hogan who was just as mad as his famous Aussie namesake

   I remember during our training descents I had on one occasion a visitor into my rigging lines, a very worried Mike Wiltshire. A few words were passed. CB “Where the F******K did you come from.”MW. “ I don’t  know, will I die”. CB if you don’t stop thrashing around like a bl++++++dy maniac we both will.” Needless to say we both survived. It was a very proud moment when we passed out ,and I remember a certain Sqn Leader in 3sqn commenting that we were all dwarfs as Derek didn’t like anyone taller than him on parade. Quite amusing as George Alexander was no giant himself.

Sargent Denis Buchan being presented with his PJI Brevet by the Rhodesian Army Commander
Lt/Gen Coster on 10th September 1971

The senior PJI s of the Rhodesian Air Force Parachute Training School in Sept !974. Lto R Kevin Milligan, ,Iain Bowen, Derek de Kock, Mike Wiltshire,Ralph Moore, John Boynton, Charlie Buchan Frank Hales, with David Bar Bear.


 It is without doubt a great honour to have been taught the trade of PJI with the stalwarts that were there when I arrived. I must admit it gives you a great feeling to have the power of despatching those of a very high Rank out of an aircraft ,and even Generals have to GO. However back to memories. On the lighter side before the day’s of fire force and deep drops in a few neighbouring countries we as a team excelled in many Demo drops. One comes to mind that our beloved leader Derek organised near Gwelo. A free fall demo to a school. Don’t ask, none of us knew why. After a nice flight down we finally exited the Dak. Horror on looking down I was staring down the barrel of a power station stacks. Which I may add was belching forth in all it’s glory. Trailing our own smoke, no competition to what was coming up, we set off on the fastest track I believe ever done by members of the school. I thought I was quick but I believe Ralph the Rat broke the sound barrier on the way past me. Derek on the ground said to us (wasn’t that exciting) if he heard our reply we would all have been subjected to a court martial.  

Iain Bowen Charlie Buchan and one of our Safety Equipment Workers Rich Carrol when they formed a team to compete in the local Sky Diving Championships.


 During my time free falling I had my moments. Two main canopy failures, one after the other at New Sarum testing the Tactical Assault Mk2. Only to be encouraged by Derek’s remark.”Carry on like that Charlie and you will have Knees like mine.” Heaven forbid. My favourite memory however was night free Fall. Our brilliant Professor Mike Wiltshire designed a set of lights to put on our back so we could see each other at night. When we walked around at night these lights flashed off and on like those on a xmas tree. The night free fall trials started with great gusto. Alas this was not to continue. As the nights and the jumping continued and the fit PJI’s got less and less. The hangar began to look like the Salisbury Hospital Orthopaedic Ward. You can imagine the faces of the recruits when they arrived to start their Basic Course. Soon we were down to three. This experiment was finally cancelled on the night I had inverted rigging lines. A strange experience at night when toggles are in the wrong place and steering becomes a nightmare. What’s forward, or worse Backwards. “Thanks Merv great packing”. The final straw for Derek was that Frank, our Trg  Officer, landed very hard on a rock. As we walked past him he called out in the pitch darkness, “Where are you”?  I replied. “Over here”. Frank then proceeded to walk over the edge of a bloody great rock he had landed on, and if I remember correctly broke his ankle. My delight was great as our beloved leader finally called it a day. I still get a laugh when I remember watching my mates instructing recruits with arms in plaster ,and hobbling around on crutches, never mind the look on the recruits faces.

   Another great experiment was the BOX. A free Fall box to go with a team of SAS Free Fallers on OPS.I believe we must have destroyed quite a few well made crates before we got it correct. The fun was in following this torpedo on it’s way towards earth. I remember on one occasion it failed and crashed into the ground in Seki quite close to a village. On arrival we were met on the DZ by Derek in a bit of a panic .When we arrived near the village we went a hunting. We finally found the BOX very close to an African long drop toilet. As we approached clothes and a lone boot could be seen sticking out from under the box. Staring at this with a very serious look on his face Frank Hales turned round  and said to Derek. “There is the Nigger in the woodpile”. Needless to say we all collapsed in hysterics except Derek. He didn’t know we had filled the box with old clothes and boots from the QM’s store. I will never forget the look on your face Boss.

   Another incident was when I was the no.1 and Ralph and Mike were to push out the box. As usual Mike was carrying on in the back and not paying much attention. We had placed the box right on the edge so it would be easy to push out. When the Green came on I gave the signal and Ralph pushed it out. MIke suddenly realised what was happening turned round to help. TOO LATE. He pushed at nothing and fell in the door, half in and half out. Not hanging around Ralph jumped over him and I grabbed his legs and tossed him out. Mike reckoned he screamed for 10seconds before he suddenly realised he was wearing a chute and that he was supposed to be doing this.

     As you will have noticed by now The memories have been of amusing encounters I was involved at whilst at the school. I am going to continue with this for a while and bring up the more serious things at a later date. One memory that really sticks out occurred late  during the day. We had been sitting in the film room a large contingent of the SAS about to take part in an Operational jump. It was decided by higher authority that a nice Blue Movie rather than a training one be shown to the waiting troops. If my memory serves me correctly the name Debbie Does Dallas comes to mind. However the movie was brought by a member of the SAS unbeknown to our Leader Derek. During the showing we received a visitor in the shape of Col Breytenbach visiting us from South African Forces plus others. The cinema was dark and we did not know there was a lady present. Enters Mike Wiltshire late as usual, and in his own way sums up the situation wrongly. Peering through the peephole cries out in a very broad American accent for all to hear. “Suck my D ********K”. Imagine the panic inside the room. The troops collapsed in an uncontrollable state of laughter, I myself collapsed on the projector floor. Ian Bowen told Mike who was in the room. Mike exited at the speed of light, closely followed by Derek from the cinema. Derek was not amused. We as a team missed the meeting between them, much to our dismay. Life in the Para school was anything but dull.

This is a photograph of Basic Static Line Course 49, and shows the senior PTS staqff seated from LtoR Sgt Ralph (the Rat) Moore, Flt?Lt Frank Hales,Sqn/Ldr Derek de Kock, WO2 Denis (Charlie) Buchan, Flt/Sgt John Boynton,Sgt Mike Wiltshire.


 When the introduction of the fire force came into being our life changed quite dramatically. The PJI’s were suddenly subjected to heavy bouts of training on an never ending sequence. To train a whole Regiment of RLI and later on RAR was quite a feat. A great deal must be said for the stamina of the PJI’s who worked all hours to train the recruits and still flew with them on OPS and took part in Fire Force .To be attached to a unit in the bush for a month at a time and then return to training was a none stop cycle. During this time we still had to take part in Demos to show the flag, and various other duties agreed upon by our beloved Boss. One being Training the Air Force Regiment security as some of us being SAS trained were ideal for the job. Or so Derek told one and all.

   My beloved leader even roped me into flying in a chopper for Radio signals and distance trials. This resulted in the chopper hitting illegal power lines strung across the dam, resulting in the pilot ( Ken Blain )and myself going for a swim in the dam. Another one was flying with  the pilots when the new training aircraft arrived. Have you ever sat beside a pilot doing aerobatics, who has the nerve to tell you to take notes when you are upside down or hurtling towards the earth at a great rate of knots. Not Funny, and then complain he couldn’t read my writing. Revenge would be mine.

    Revenge would come in the form of an annual Water Descent. Every year the pilots and other members of the air force and the army used to take part in an annual Water Jump. This was to ensure they would know what to do if the occasion arose when they would need to abandon an aircraft, or just to keep up their parachuting skills as required by the army. It gave us much delight to have them in the hanger for training as when do you get the chance to order around Senior Officers ,who have to obey your every command. From General Walls, to high ranking Air Force officers they were all there to leap into Lake MckiIwaine. My favourite of them all was our Padre Norman Wood, quite a nervous parachutist. Remarks to him like (This is the closest to Head Office you have been in a long time ) or singing Onward Christian Soldiers when the Red Light was on, went down like a lead balloon.

Well this is my first couple of pages for you all to peruse and when I get a bit more time I will put a little bit more to paper

   Take care of yourselves

       Yours aye

     Charlie Buchan.