HOW THEY WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 176, 26 July 1940, Page 5

HOW THEY WORK.

PARACHUTE TROOPS.

TACTICS AND EQUIPMENT.

'PLANES FLY LOW.

German parachute troops may operate] as far from, their base as the radius of j action with full load of the aircraft — 1000 :<iiles or more—-but the present practical limit is probably 500 miles. This and other information is giveu in the "Listener" by Oliver Stewart, a 8.8.C. commentator on air warfare.

The ordinary emergency parachute I worn by all British airmen is of the free kind, in which the man jumps andj falls freely with his parachute until he pulls on a ring which is in a pocket on his flying suit, usually somewhere over the heart. The wire attached to this ring undoes the opening of the pack and frees a small pilot parachute, which, in turn, drags out the big one.

The parachute that the Germans wear differs from tlie ordinary free one in that when the canopy of silk is folded into the pack which the man wears, a line is folded in with it. One end of this line is then attached to the aeroplane, and when the man jumps and the line pulls taut the parachute is jerked out of its case.

One advantage of the static line method for parachute troops is that it can be used with the aeroplane flying lower. This may be why the Germans have adopted it. It can be used as low as about 200 ft. It seems that, when the men jump, the German aeroplanes often fly very low. Also they fly as slowly as they can; that is, about 75 or 80 miles an hour. They follow close to one another, with perhaps 800-yard intervals, and they try to put down all their troops in a small area—say about half the size of a medium commercial aerodrome.

The dress of the parachute troops shows how thoroughly the technique