Air Despatch
Join us at the RLC Museum for an insightful journey as we celebrate 110 years of Air Despatch—the uniquely daring, ingenious, and often unsung craft of delivering essential supplies from aircraft. From its pioneering beginnings to modern operations, this presentation reveals how Air Despatch has evolved into a precise, high-skill technical art form… even if, at its heart, it’s still about chucking things out of aircraft, hopefully with increasing levels of accuracy and the British military’s unique approach to Air Despatch. The trade is not just about delivering war materiel, it has also been involved in an amazing number of Humanitarian Aid missions across the globe, and we dip into other nations air drop capabilities.
The Air Despatch trade is packed with a rich history, remarkable missions, personal stories/memories, and a good dose of “squaddie” humour. This talk offers a rare look behind the ramp and parachutes. Whether you’re fascinated by military logistics, airborne operations, or simply enjoy hearing about people doing extraordinary things in extraordinary ways, this is a presentation not to be missed.
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Stuart
Chris Stuart has served in the Air Despatch trade in every rank from 2Lt through to Lt Col and was the last officer to hold the coveted Air Despatch Crew Commanders qualification. Exercises and operations immersed him into an amazingly unique trade with some real characters, supporting the likes of 16 Air Assault Brigade, Royal Marines, Royal Navy, Special Forces and SPAG – (Sub Sunk Parachute Assistance Group) in the UK, Africa, Middle East and even Antarctica. The trade’s links to Arnhem in Holland created the opportunity to meet the Air Despatch veterans who flew at Arnhem and also the people of Holland who witnessed many of air drop missions which proved to be the catalyst to learn more about the history of the unit, the trade and personnel. Chris with a former Master Air Despatcher (MAD) got the chance to do an air drop from a WW2 Dakota over Normandy as part of the DDay 80 Commemorations in 2024, and flew on the final C-130J Hercules air drop sortie. After twenty years of research and visits to the archives at the Imperial War Museum, National Records Office, RLC Museum and numerous military units I hope to bring some of the history to life and do a little myth busting too over the 110 year history.
