Memoir: Hot War - Cold War | Page 2

lower a weight, that is, a person or a cargo, slowly and safely from a place in the sky to a place on the ground. In time of war, the one-way trip down might be aircrews that were forced to abandon their airplanes because the craft could no longer remain airborne. During World War II, hundreds of thousands of airborne soldiers parachuted from transport aircraft with their weapons as part of military operations. At least equal in numbers, cargo parachutes lowered food, weapons, and other essential supplies and equipment to the fighting forces and to isolated civilian communities. Parachutes also have a wide range of uses in peacetime, for instance, emergency escapes from disabled aircraft and other airborne systems, to slow an aircraft on the runway after a high-speed landing, sport parachuting, 'fire jumpers' in fighting forest fires, rescues in terrain that lacks easier access, and more.
Parachutes must work the first time; there are very few second chances.
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In September 1941 I was a civilian parachute rigger for the Air Service Command at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio. My job was to repair and service-pack man-carrying and cargo parachutes for United States Army Air Corps flying personnel, Army parachute troops in training, and American and friendly foreign nations' special operations in which the United States was involved in various parts of the world.
The months from September through November of 1941 were busy times for our shop.?? The conflict raged across Europe and on battlefronts in Asia and Africa. The United States Armed Forces accelerated their training programs, and Americans were active in the war zones of other nations. The parachute shop, in which I worked, as in most other industrial areas at Patterson Field, and dozens of other bases throughout the United States, was on a round-the-clock seven-day workweek.
Damaged man-carrying and cargo parachutes were brought to our shop in large quantities from United States training bases and overseas theaters of operations. Often, the parachute harnesses, which are wrapped around the jumpers to lower them safely, were shredded, canopies were ripped, and canopy containers and emergency survival attachments were scorched and gory.?? I was in a crew that fixed man-carrying parachutes, and then drop-tested a dozen or so that were randomly selected by the shop foreman from each two or three hundred that had been given a major repair and packed for service.
The test consisted of attaching a service-packed parachute to a 120-pound weight or canvas-covered dummy, loading the weights or dummies into a C-47 airplane, and connecting a metal hook at one end of a 30-foot lanyard to the parachute rip cord and the other end to a cable stretched tightly above the airplane door.?? The door was lashed open.?? Each of the two men on the test crew wore a parachute and they were also secured to the airplane frame by a short heavy belt so that they would not accidentally fall from the aircraft.
The pilot took off and circled the field at about a thousand feet. Approaching the drop zone, the co-pilot flashed a warning light above the door where the parachute handlers were stationed.?? At the next signal, the handlers, one on each side of the dummy, heaved it out. The lanyard, when fully extended, pulled the ripcord, and the canopy extended, opened, inflated, and descended.?? The ground crew tracked the drifting parachute, guessing at where it would most likely touch ground.??
Ground crew work is not dull.?? I remember how we would spread out, and watch the dummy as it fell; there were times we had to move fast to get out of the way. As soon as we knew where the parachute would land, we'd run toward it and, as soon as we got to where it was, haul in one of the webbing straps to spill air from the canopy, and get it all together with the least possible damage to the parachute and to ourselves.??
There were times, even on a relatively calm day, when a gust would pass across the field and inflate the canopy before we got to it.?? A partially inflated canopy in a gentle breeze can drag a heavy dummy and parachute along the ground faster than ground handlers can run.??
I'll always remember chasing a parachute and its dummy that a sudden gust dragged, rolled, twisted, and bounced along in a field we were using for the drop zone. Finally, with a lunge, I landed on the dummy, wrapped both legs around it, and grasped and hauled back one of the straps. I managed to spill enough air to deflate the canopy.?? Controlling a dummy that is being tossed around by a sudden gust can be like riding a spirited pony.
Back at the shop after the tests, we inspected every part of the parachute closely to see how well it had been