Qualla: Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum

Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum: Introduction

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wendy George, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1940, Winston Churchill sent a memo demanding Britain create a force of 5,000 parachute troops. The country had no such capability. Building one from scratch — the aircraft, the equipment, the tactics, the training — took time. The men who went through that process became one of the most distinctive fighting forces in British military history. The museum that tells their story, Airborne Assault, opened at Duxford in 2008. The exhibits include weapons and heavy drop equipment suspended from the ceiling, arranged as if in the process of descending. Among them is Bing, an Alsatian and Collie cross who dropped by parachute with British airborne forces in 1944.

Image: Wendy George | CC BY-SA 4.0

Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum: From Aldershot to Duxford

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Christopher Kern - User: (WT-shared) Albion at wts wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. The museum's origins trace to a meeting of the Parachute Regiment Association in October 1946, the year after the war ended. Veterans wanted to preserve the record. For decades the museum operated in various barracks. A permanent home opened at Browning Barracks, Aldershot Garris...

Image: Christopher Kern - User: (WT-shared) Albion at wts wikivoyage | CC BY-SA 4.0

Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum: Arnhem, Market Garden, and the Rhine

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit fw190a8 from Cheltenham, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0. The museum's Second World War exhibits centre on the operations that defined British airborne forces as a fighting concept. The original briefing models used to plan the operations are on display — physical scale models created before the missions, showing terrain, objectives, an...

Image: fw190a8 from Cheltenham, United Kingdom | CC BY-SA 2.0

Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum: A Medal Gallery and Posthumous Courage

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The Medal Gallery displays awards earned by British airborne troops across the regiment's history. Among them are the posthumous Victoria Crosses awarded to Lieutenant John Hollington Grayburn of the 2nd Battalion at Arnhem, and to Captain Lionel Ernest Queripel of the 10th Batta...

Image: Public domain

Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum: Living History and Bing the Paradog

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jack1956, Public domain. The museum operates a resource called ParaData — a comprehensive database recording all who have served with the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces, linked to accounts of campaigns and engagements, with photographs, letters, and audio and film interviews. The database aims to...

Image: Jack1956 | Public domain