Pathfinder was formed over 20 years ago
by Sgt Roy Mobsby and Lance Bombardier
Ron Ball. Both former Paras, they wanted to
jump around the world on other country’s
Para courses and earn their Wings – that’s
what you call badge collecting the hard way!
Apart from the basic parachute course
Pathfinder teaches in Holland, the group also
jumps at WWII anniversary events using
either a DC3, Polish AN2 or the good old
Cessna Caravan. They are not too worried
about the type of aircraft they use (after all
it’s just a hole in the sky that they can jump
from) – it’s more important to put green
round parachutes over the drop zone to
remind the youth of today what it would have
looked like in 1944.
Pathfinder has clocked up some impressive
firsts and was the first group (since they
were originally dropped onto in WW2) to
jump a round canopy onto these former war
time DZs: Arnhem, Ginkle Heath, Wolfheze,
Oosterbeek, Renkum Heath, Ede, Dreil, The
Alps in support of Peter Churchill’s SOE,
Sannerville and Merville in Normandy, as well
as DZ N at Pegasus Bridge and the DZ that
should have been used in 1944 at Arnhem
Bridge.
Pathfinder jumped this last one twice, to
prove it could have been done. Would it have
shortened the war by a year? We will never
know – but Pathfinder proved that the jump
could have taken place, and much nearer the
bridge. ■
“The type of aircraft isn’t
important – it’s more important
to put green round parachutes
over the drop zone to remind
the youth of today what it would
have looked like in 1944”
PATHFINDER GROUP
AIRSOFT MILITARY
SIMULATION
WWII anniversary events are just a small
part of Pathfinder and its activities.
Roy, a Warminster-trained small arms
weapons instructor, has always had an
interest in airsoft and deactivated weapons
used as training aids. On leaving the army
he set up a training establishment using
airsoft.
Pathfinder has been given space at the
former RAF camp at Sopley in the New
Forest, near Bransgore and a stone’s
throw from Bournmouth. Pathfinder
shares the site, using the camp on
alternative weekends. Registered with
UKARA under company name Black
Ops Solutions, several of their club
members have also served as PMCs in
Iraq so you are guaranteed to be trained
by professional soldiers who have seen
service in hostile environments!
Pathfinder Group Airsoft Military
Simulation concentrates on doing it
properly and currently trains Cadets,
Territorials and other airsoft groups in the
art of CQB, FIBUA and battlefield drills.
The use of casualty simulation and
radio controlled explosions keeps its
members on their toes – not to mention
the booby traps in the Killing House! Just
when you think you have finished and can
see the light seeping through the exit door
you feel the tug of the tripwire on your boot
and, for you, the war is over…
So whether you want to experience a
military parachute course and earn your
Dutch Military B Wings, stalk targets
in the darkness of the Killing House or
maybe just get your battlefield drills
right, Pathfinder Group Airsoft Military
Simulation is for you.
Contact: Roy, Pathfi[email protected],
www.pathfindergroupuk.com
Keepers of the Gateway to Hell is available
as a Kindle download (£1.94) from
Amazon: amzn.to/KOTGTH
060
March 2012