D-Day Dummy Paratrooper

[Flying10uk]

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[Paddyofurnitur]

Thanks!

[browningautorifle]

Something you don't see every day.

[Bob Womack]

The real "Rupert."


Bob

[Gil Boyd]

We have several in our museum collection as you would expect being Parachute Regiment, however, each has its own tale. A clever idea for WW2 and one that did have limited effect at night especially as they cracked on contact with the ground.

[browningautorifle]

they cracked on contact with the ground.

That's not so unusual, so do some of us...

[emmagee1917]

Did these pack a fireworks display as the dummy in " The Longest Day " did , or was that also just " Hollywood Fairy Tale " ?

By the way , just a little off subject , but in the above movie they spliced in the scene off actual planes taking off for the drop . Under the nose of the plane was a box with two spinning disks . I thought it was some special radio / radar device to help them drop the men in the right place at night . Well , those turned out to be Paratrooper's Handcarts full of supplies . The middle man in the stick pulled a handle inside the plane releasing the carts ( which had their own chutes ) just before he went out himself . Hopefully the men in the center of the stick would find them while the men at each end worked their way to the center to join up .

Chris

[Gil Boyd]

Chris,
This might help. The Longest Day dummies used were actual plastic US Paras

During WWII, these “Paradummies“ descended like real parachutists with a self-igniting explosive charge on their backs