Red Devils (Parachute Regiment)
Encyclopedia
The Red Devils are the Parachute Regiment's parachute display team. The team wears the distinctive maroon beret
. The Red Devils are regular serving paratroopers from the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment who have volunteered to serve on the display team.
The team was formed on 1 January 1964 by Major-General Glyn Gilbert
, who was then Regimental Colonel of the Parachute Regiment, and in 1979 was officially declared the British Army
's parachute
display team. The team actually comprises two display teams of ten men, each with a cameraman who records each performance.
The distinctive maroon beret
of the Parachute Regiment was first worn by the men of the Regiment when it went into action in North Africa in November 1942. The officers and men of the 1st Parachute Brigade, wearing this beret, were nicknamed the "Red Devils" by their German adversaries because of the fact that they were covered in red dust from the area in which they had been fighting (not for the fact they wore the Maroon Beret).
Maroon beret
The maroon beret is a military beret and has been an international symbol of elite airborne forces since it was chosen for British airborne forces in World War II. This distinctive head dress was officially introduced in 1942, at the direction of General Frederick Browning, commander of the British...
. The Red Devils are regular serving paratroopers from the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment who have volunteered to serve on the display team.
The team was formed on 1 January 1964 by Major-General Glyn Gilbert
Glyn Gilbert
Major-General Glyn Charles Anglim Gilbert CB MC was a 20th century British military officer who served during World War II...
, who was then Regimental Colonel of the Parachute Regiment, and in 1979 was officially declared the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
display team. The team actually comprises two display teams of ten men, each with a cameraman who records each performance.
The distinctive maroon beret
Maroon beret
The maroon beret is a military beret and has been an international symbol of elite airborne forces since it was chosen for British airborne forces in World War II. This distinctive head dress was officially introduced in 1942, at the direction of General Frederick Browning, commander of the British...
of the Parachute Regiment was first worn by the men of the Regiment when it went into action in North Africa in November 1942. The officers and men of the 1st Parachute Brigade, wearing this beret, were nicknamed the "Red Devils" by their German adversaries because of the fact that they were covered in red dust from the area in which they had been fighting (not for the fact they wore the Maroon Beret).