The Central Landing Establishment was the Second World War British development centre for airborne warfare at RAF Ringway airfield near Manchester.Thompson 1989, p. 4.
Establishment
Following Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
's decision to create a parachute corps within the British Army after German successes using airborne force during the early stages of the war, a parachute training school known as the
Central Landing School
The Airborne Delivery Wing is a Royal Air Force training unit that provides parachute training to all three British Armed Forces. It is based at RAF Brize Norton. in Oxfordshire.
It was formed at RAF Ringway, now Manchester Airport, on 21 Jun ...
was set up at RAF Ringway near Manchester in June 1940. On 31 August 1940, it was expanded within the school becoming the Central Landing Establishment. There was a separate Technical unit and the addition of the Glider Training Squadron which would be used by pilots training for the Glider Pilot Regiment.
The centre was operated by Royal Air Force and British Army officers working in collaboration.
In 1941, the Airborne Forces Establishment was created from the experimental and technical units, renamed in 1942 as the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment. The Parachute Training Squadron became a unit in its own right as the Parachute Training School on 15 February 1942.
Glider pilot training took 24 weeks; a 12-week light pilot training course and a 12-week glider course.
Equipment
The CLE developed equipment to be used by Britain's airborne forces, such as standardized equipment containers for parachuting supplies.
The Mark III CLE Canister was long and in diameter, with a parachute attached to one end and an impact absorbing "pan" at the other; the capacity was . It split longitudinally for unloading. These containers would fit in the bomb bays of aircraft making resupply easier. The largest CLE canister was 3.3 m long.
An earlier Mark I canister was D-shaped in cross-section (about 15 inches in diameter). A motorcycle, the " Welbike" was developed that could be stowed in one. A cylindrical fuel can was also developed to fit the CLE Canister, with a canister able to accommodate three of the cans.
Other means of landing supplies were developed. Wicker baskets for some materiel, crates for motorcycles such as the Royal Enfield WD/RE, and the means of parachuting jeeps and light artillery pieces.