Muži z Ringway 1. - Českoslovenští parašutisté ve Velké Británii 1941 - 1945 – Marek Jindřich (2014)

Knees together, shoulders round, head bent down and watch the ground! (Kolena sevři, ramena vpřed, hlavu skloň a na zem hleď!) A parachutist's incantation that Czech and Slovak soldiers had to repeat at every opportunity under the guidance of their British instructors at Ringway Airport in Manchester from 1941 to 1945. Don't make a hero of yourself after the first jump, because you are not one, and don't say it's nothing, because it is something... One of the inscriptions at the parachutist training base Ringway during World War II. At the airport's information board, alongside regular instructions and announcements, there were also humorous remarks about the mentality of different nations in relation to parachute training and especially the first jump. You could read various mostly successful jokes about English, Jewish, Polish, German, French, or Spanish parachutists. Of course, I easily remembered that joke about our lads: A group of Czechoslovak soldiers, trained and dressed, sits in a flying airplane. They are waiting for their first jump. The English instructor calls the first one to jump. "After you," comes the reply. He turns to the next one, but it ends the same way. The instructor is desperate, but suddenly...