Anyone Know Anything About Parachutes?

**Aragorn243** · 12-03-2023 04:51 PM

So I was visiting my Dad this weekend while deer hunting and I was showing him my collection on the computer. This morning at breakfast he asked me if I would want my great uncles WWII parachute. Duh, yes. He really didn't know much about it or what or my uncle was so I have nothing to go with from that. He seemed to think he was some sort of controller and if so I would think he would be on the ground. But he did have a pilots license, he gave me my first airplane ride when I was young. It was supposedly in a black garbage bag where it had been for 30 years in a storage room. Couldn't find it. Turns out he put it in a nice box that we ignored for 20 minutes but was right on top of the pile of stuff, even marked Parachute on the sides of the box we couldn't see.

So, I have no idea if this actually is a WWII parachute or not, turns out there are actually two in the box. It's raining so I can't take them outside to open them up and spread them out. I could find no markings on either which seems strange. They could be supply chutes also. I don't know what they are made of, I'm guessing Nylon as I have no idea what silk looks like. The cords are all cut short.

What should I look for when I get a chance to take them outside in daylight? It appears to be white, it's sheer meaning you can easily see through it, it has blue or black stitching. There are 18 cords. It seems too small for a man, maybe 10 feet from the outside edge to the hole in the top so I'm thinking some sort of supply chute.

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**Flying10uk** · 12-03-2023 08:51 PM

As I understand it British icon

and German icon

WW2 parachutes were made of silk. Because America had access to nylon American WW2 parachutes could, perhaps, have been made from nylon.

I do have some fragments of a WW2 German parachute which my late father liberated from a crashed German aircraft during WW2, after getting permission from the sentry guarding it. These fragments have a matt white appearance but were subject to a fire when the aircraft crashed.

**browningautorifle** · 12-03-2023 10:20 PM

Two things, I've never seen one with gromets used for men and there's no suspension lines running through the apex. I've never seen that before either. Don't know what this one's for.

**Sapper740** · 12-04-2023 05:23 AM

Depending upon its size it could be a pilot chute or a drag chute. What's its diameter and are there any stencils on it.

**Aragorn243** · 12-04-2023 08:31 AM

I don't know the size yet. It's wet here right now. It isn't huge though, not man size, not large cargo size but bigger than a pilots chute I would think. Couldn't find any stencils on either.

**browningautorifle** · 12-04-2023 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I don't know the size yet.

We've got the time...

**old tanker** · 12-04-2023 10:27 PM

Illumination flare? The parachute on the flare from the old 4.2 inch mortar is about 3-1/2 feet across. I don't know how big they are for the illumination round from a 155 howitzer.

**Aragorn243** · 12-05-2023 08:09 AM

It is around 16 feet in diameter.

**Sapper740** · 12-05-2023 04:20 PM

It's too small and not enough panels to be a T10 which was the smallest military parachute for dropping humans. It's about the right size for a LAPES drogue chute which would be my guess. The drogue chute pulls out the the two main extraction parachutes which then pulls out the load.

**Aragorn243** · 12-05-2023 08:51 PM

Did they do LAPES in WWII. I'm pretty confident the time period is correct, WWII or at latest Korea. Simply due to the time period he was in the service. I did find this that popped up with Drogue in the search. Size is about right and from what I can see of it, it looks the same. you have to enlarge the photo to see the stitching. Is is silk though, how do you tell the difference?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...gue-1843429678

And this is a possiblity: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=htt...ljcqg2aj71.jpg

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