in llangeinor wales united kingdom that designs manufactures and supplies a range of parachutes and emergency rescue and survival equipment to the military coastguard and civilian aerospace markets . 1 its factory in llangeinor employs around 250 people . 2 irvin gq together with aircraft materials limited and advanced inflatable products of the uk para flite inc. and irvin aerospace inc. of the united states and irvin aerospace canada limited of canada forms airborne systems group a company wholly owned by alchemy partners . 1 contents 1 history 2 associated companies 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the irvin airchute company was founded in buffalo new york united states in 1919 by leslie irvin who had made the world s first free fall parachute jump in that year . 3 4 in 1925 the royal air force ordered irvin airchute company parachutes for its crews . 3 it was acquired by gq parachutes founded in 1932 by james gregory and raymond quilter which since the 1930s has played a prominent role in the development of emergency escape parachutes . 4 since 1991 the company has operated a specialised outsourced service facility the airborne forces parachute support unit afpsu which repairs maintains and packs all of the parachutes and related equipment for the parachute regiment of the british army . in december 2002 the company announced a 5 million investment programme including the creation of around 200 jobs and the move of its main uk production site from blackmill in bridgend to llangeinor . 4 in september 2006 the company formed part of a trade mission to china led by the then first minister for wales rhodri morgan . 5 in january 2010 the company secured a 50 million contract with the french ministry of defence . 1 associated companies edit co located at llangeinor with irvin gq are aircraft materials limited a company for design development and manufacture of a wide range of systems for the aerial delivery of cargo aerial material handling personnel and cargo restraint and safety harnesses . advanced inflatable products a manufacturer of balloons inflatable and fabric engineered products for the defence and aerospace markets . see also edit paratrooper references edit a b c parachute firm wins 50m deal to supply france . wales online . 21 january 2010 . retrieved 20 november 2010 . bridgend based parachute manufacturer airborne systems europe to employ more staff . wales online . 9 january 2009 . retrieved 20 november 2010 . a b milestones . airborne systems . retrieved 21 november 2010 . a b c parachute firm in job expansion . bbc news . 5 december 2002 . retrieved 20 november 2010 . morgan in chinese trade mission . bbc news . 11 august 2004 . retrieved 20 november 2010 . external links edit official website search and rescue equipment airborne systems aerial delivery equipment cargo parachutes military parachutes v t e aerospace industry in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom manufacturing in the united 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systems martinsyde matra marconi space miles aircraft moss brothers aircraft d. napier & son nash & thomson national aircraft factory no. 2 nieuport & general aircraft norman thompson flight company parnall parnall & sons port victoria marine experimental aircraft depot lang propellers reid and sigrist rollason aircraft and engines royal aircraft establishment saunders roe scottish aviation seaplane experimental station selex galileo selex sistemi integrati siddeley deasy sopwith aviation company spartan aircraft supermarine vickers vickers armstrongs westland aircraft westland helicopters j. samuel white government and regulatory bodies civil aviation authority defence electronics and components agency defence science and technology laboratory european aviation safety agency related topics ads group aircraft manufactured in the united kingdom air international air service training british aerospace engineers farnborough airshow flight international key publishing nats holdings ndi uk parcaberporth royal aeronautical society society of british aerospace companies category this article about a company of the uk is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title irvin gq & oldid 740784369 categories 1932 establishments in walesaerospace companies of the united kingdombridgend county boroughcompanies established in 1932manufacturing companies of walesmilitary parachutesparachuting in the united kingdomunited kingdom company stubshidden categories all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this 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