British Army Parachutist Saves Teammate From Death

The British Army Parachute Regiment has an outstanding show team called "The Red Devils" that's quite famous and very well regarded.

Today, they're even more famous and even better regarded because of an incident at a recent airshow. The team was performing at the Whitehaven Air Show in Cumbria on Friday when the incident happened.

From the BBC:

A Red Devil parachutist has said he owes his colleague a pint of beer after the pair got tangled in mid-air but safely reached the ground.

Cpl Mike French's parachute wrapped around Cpl Wayne Shorthouse but they managed to land in the harbour.

Cpl Shorthouse, 32, from Plymouth, said he was no hero and both men had been trained for such a scenario.

Cpl French said the plan had been for his parachute to be caught by Cpl Shorthouse as the first stage of building a formation.

"As soon as I had made contact with Wayne from the back, I looked up and saw the parachute was a little bit wrapped around," said Cpl French. 

All of the drama unfolding at 1000 feet in the air was not lost on the crowd:

Onlookers at the display said the dramatic scenes had caused panic among the crowd with one describing the event as "frightening".

Lucy Milne, who was watching the display, said: "It seemed to go on for ages and it's just seeing the panic of everyone around you and seeing it on the parachute guys as well - the panic.

"And then all of a sudden he just started to go really quick and everyone was holding their breath and then all of a sudden they were in the water.

"Everyone was staring at the water for ages waiting for them both to pop up and then when eventually they did everyone clapped."

And, unlike most of us would be, the two men say they're very much looking forward to the next airshow, where they'll do it all over again. Hopefully without the added drama.