AN RAF Corporal from the Bradford district is making final preparation for his first season as part of the Force’s parachute display team.

Corporal Lee Coonan, who has been a member of the Royal Air Force for ten years, will give his first display next month.

The former Bingley Grammar School and Shipley College student joined the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team in October 2016, and has been busy training since in preparation for display season.

The Falcons’ first performance of the year will take place at the team’s launch day at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where the RAF Falcons are based, on Friday, May 5, following a winter of training both in the UK and in California.

He will tour with the Falcons for three years, and in this year’s summer months will conduct around 60 displays throughout the UK and across Europe.

Corporal Coonan, 31, from Bingley, said: “To be selected for the RAF Falcons has been a goal of mine ever since joining the RAF.

“To finally achieve this goal is one of my greatest achievements to date, and I will forever be grateful and honoured to be a part of such a privileged, professional and talented group of people that are the RAF Falcons.”

He joined the RAF in 2007 as a physical training instructor, but in 2013 decided to take a turn in his career and chose to specialise as a parachute jumping instructor.

He successfully completed his training course, and was subsequently posted to No. 1 Parachute Training School, based at RAF Brize Norton.

Due to his highly skilled parachuting ability, Corporal Coonan was selected to joining the RAF Falcons, who he will remain with for three years, and will also gain his Military Accelerated Free Fall Instructor qualification in that time.

This will enable him to provide specialist parachuting training to members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Away from his role as a parachuting instructor, Corporal Coonan has also represented the RAF at football.

The RAF Falcons have been delivering fast paced, high profile displays from up to 12,000 ft in the UK and abroad for more than 50 years.

Each member of the Falcons has been specially selected for their role, and alongside putting on spectacular displays for the public, they also take part in advanced training to prepare them for roles as parachute jumping instructors.

To see Corporal Coonan in action, he will be performing in Yorkshire on June 24 at Scarborough Armed Forces Day, at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate on July 11, at RAF Leeming’s Families Day on July 20 and 21, and at York Racecourse on August 23.

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