44th Parachute Brigade was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Territorial Army parachute brigade, active from c.1950 to 1978.

History

Formation

From 1950-1956 it was one of the brigades of

16th Airborne Division The 16th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Territorial Army. It was first commanded by Major-General Roy Urquhart, and had its divisional headquarters in London. It was raised in 1947, to compensate for the ...

. From 1956 the division was reduced to the 44th Independent Parachute Brigade Group, comprising the 10th (County of London), 12th (Yorkshire), 13th (Lancashire), 15th (Scottish) and 17th (Durham Light Infantry) battalions of the Parachute Regiment. Shortly after formation, the 12th and 13th Battalions were amalgamated as 12th/13th (Yorkshire and Lancashire) Battalion. In 1967, the TA battalions were reduced again, the 12th/13th and 17th being amalgamated to reform the 4th Battalion.

Reformation in 1967

It was re-formed on 1 April 1967 from 44th Independent Parachute Brigade Group (T.A.). The brigade was the only Territorial Army Parachute formation in the Army's order of battle. The following units were part of the brigade: * Brigade Headquarters and Defence Platoon - based in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

* 289 Parachute Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (Volunteers) located in East Ham, London, (This was the former 289 Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (T.A.), which had been composed of 'P','Q','R' and 'S' batteries). (This Battery left the brigade in 1977 when it converted to 289 Commando Battery, Royal Artillery) * 131 Independent Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers (Volunteers) - Squadron HQ in London with Troops in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

and

Grangemouth Grangemouth (; , ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area in the central belt of Scotland. Historically part of the Counties of Scotland, county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firt ...

(In 1978 this became 131 Independent Commando Squadron (V) Royal Engineers) * 44 Parachute Brigade Signal Troop, Royal Corps of Signals (Volunteers) - Based in Chelsea with the brigade HQ. *

4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment The 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment (4 PARA), is an Army Reserve unit of the British Army. Now recruiting across the United Kingdom originally the Battalion covered the North of England, with its headquarters located in Pudsey, West Yorkshir ...

(V) - Battalion HQ in Pudsey with Rifle Companies in Liverpool, Oldham, Gateshead and Norton. * 10th (County of London) Battalion, Parachute Regiment - Battalion HQ in White City (West London) with Rifle Companies in White City, Finchley, Blackheath, Croydon and Aldershot * 15th (Scottish) Parachute, Parachute Regiment - Battalion HQ in Glasgow with Companies in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh * 16th (Volunteer) Independent Company, Parachute Regiment - Lincoln *

562 Parachute Squadron Royal Corps of Transport (Volunteers) 56 may refer to: * 56 (number) * One of the years 56 BC, AD 56, 1956, 2056 * 56.com, a Chinese online video platform * Fiftysix, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Fifty-Six, Arkansas, a city in the United States * "Fifty ...

- Southall with detachments A Troop at West Ham and B Troop in Dulwich. * 144 Parachute Field Ambulance,

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

(Volunteers) - HQ was in Chelsea, London with detachments in

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and

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* 44 Parachute Ordnance Field Park,

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

(Volunteers) - located at

Heston Heston is a suburban area and part of the Hounslow district in the London Borough of Hounslow. The residential settlement covers a slightly smaller area than its predecessor farming village, 10.8 miles (17.4 km) west south-west of Charing C ...

in West London. * 1 Parachute Provost Platoon,

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

(Volunteers) - located at

Tulse Hill Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London that sits on Brockwell Park. It is approximately five miles from Charing Cross and is bordered by Brixton, Dulwich, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood. History The a ...

in South London. The 44th Parachute Brigade (V) was disbanded on 31 March 1978. Only the 3 TA Parachute Battalions and 144 Field Ambulance remained as para units; 289 Battery RHA and 131 Squadron RE were converted to Commando units (289 reverting from RHA to RA) but retained their parachute role, while the remainder of the brigade units were either converted or disbanded.

References

External links

* * *{{cite web , url=http://lothianpra.org.uk/ , title=Lothian PRA , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050418022759/http://www.lothianpra.org.uk/ , archive-date=18 April 2005 44 Parachute Brigade Military units and formations disestablished in 1978 44 Parachute Brigade Army Reserve (United Kingdom)