Rhine Army Parachute Assoc/Joint Services Parachute Centre

The Parachute Centre Bad Lippspringe started life at the Detmold Airfield! Parachutists were loaded there, and flown down to the Sennelager Training Area to do their stuff; the aircraft landed either on the Windmill Strip (asphalt)- non firing days, or the old Luftwaffe grass strip adjoining the Lippspringe Sportsfield. Picked up survivors of the first jump of the day and carried dropping and landing until the monotony drove them all back to Detmold. Eventually Logistics, common-sense and the Rhine Army Parachute Association ( and Adventure Trg money) changed all that and the Joint Service Parachute Centre (Lippspringe) became established on the former Luftwaffe night fighter base.  It was an Rhine Army run facility and had nothing to do with the RAF.

Many years after the inception of the Parachute Centre the former Luftwaffe fuel storage tanks were found, underground, intact with viable fuel still stored.

A former member says access was via the Bielefelderstrasse without going through any Barracks - this is n't quite true! The Alte Bielefelder Post Strasse from Bad Lippsringe to Hoevelhof runs along the Eastern edge of the Sports' Field, and the flying ground, sportsfields and Golf Course are all inside the Sennelager Training Area. In the early 70s the ONLY access was from Bad Lippspringe (as it was for rifle men going to the new ALMA Ranges). Eventually an access road was built from the rear of Normandy Barracks to Schlangen to access the ALMA Classification Ranges, Sports Fields and Golf Course, L Range and other new revised shooting facilities. The road was never designed for tanks and is the sole property of the military who can control usage, in recent years the Southern Ring Road has been declared unsuitable for civilian traffic by the German Police.

The Airfield/Sports Ground and Southern Military Ring Road were controlled access routes for the Rhine Army Summer Show and for the faithful attending the Papal visit (Pope John Paul II) in 1996. (Last week RASS 96 and Joe Cocker - this week John Paul II and the faithfull).
The Parachute Centre owned its own aircraft (a number of the years) the Islander was popular - registered and classed as a BFG Vehicle.