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Sunday, September 02, 2007 11:30:42 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

With the realease of Medal Of Honor Airborne not so far away, i thought i would do some reading about the Real Hero's of 101st Airborne.

Source: www.101airborneww2.com A great site for information on The Airborne Division.

In this 1943 color photo, parachutists sit on the bench seat of a C-47 awaiting instructions to stand up and hook-up. Note the brown jump boots and reserve (chest pack) parachutes. They are wearing the Type T-5 parachutes-the spring loaded clip fasteners of the main (back pack) chute harness are visible across the upper chests of the jumpers. These often tightened-up, due to the opening shock and descent, and many complaints were lodged by Normandy survivors that the buckles were too difficult and time-consuming to unfasten under combat conditions. Type T-5 chutes were used until mid 1944, at which time Riggers began converting them, by adding a harness equipped with a quick-release box to existing T-5's.

The quick release box pictured above was salvaged by Don Zahn of H/506th-later versions are not fully-round and have a straight edge on one side of the disc.
The modified T-5's were forerunners of the T-7 chutes on which quick-release boxes were standard equipment. These jumpers are also holding the static line hook in their left hand-this was attached to a steel cable which ran the length of the aisle just below the ceiling of the plane. When the jumper exited the door, the static line played- out, ripping the cover off the back parachute. 'Prop blast' from the propellors helped the chute deploy automatically. Thus the jumper only had to exit with the proper body position and his chute would open automatically. The red ripcord handle of the chest reserve chute was only pulled in the event of a malfunction of the main chute. The U.S. Army switched to black boots circa 1958 (one of the technical mistakes in 'Saving Private Ryan'wherein paras are seen wearing black boots).

Plates like this were sewn to the side of the main backpack of the T-5 parachute and this one indicates that the canopy inside is (multi shade green) Camouflage. Wartime records indicate that prior to D-Day, parachute manufacturers were shipping both white and camo chutes to England in equal numbers. Despite attempts to equip all D-Day jumpers with camo chutes, only about half of the chutes used on D-Day were camo chutes. The rest had glorious white canopies,which made splendid targets as the jumpers were floating to earth in thick machinegun fire.

Lou Vecchi of H/506th holding the GI's best friend, the 30-06 caliber M-1 rifle designed by John Garand. Utilizing an 8 round clip, the gas-operated, semi auto weapon allowed the user to fire eight times, as fast as he could pull the trigger. This gave a distinct advantage over Axis opponents who were mostly using bolt-action rifles. photo c/o Bob Martin.

The heavy padded drop bag shown above, was worn by paratroopers when jumping with the M-1 rifle. The rifle was broken down into three sections: barrel, stock, and trigger group and zipped-up in this heavy canvas bag. A metal hook on the reverse attached the bag to a metal loop mounted high on the right chest portion of the main harness. The bag was tucked behind the reserve chute when jumping, on a 45 degree angle. Many complaints came from Normandy survivors who lost precious seconds removing their weapon from the 'Griswold Bag', and assembling and loading the M-1 while enemy troops encroached. Starting with Market-Garden, Riggers began mounting an extension on the Griswold Bags, enabling jumpers to descend with a fully assembled and loaded M-1 rifle in the bag. Also shown in the photo is a pair of spit-shined brown jump boots which belonged to Rudy Korvas of F/501.

Folding Stock Carbine M1-A1

The M1-A1 folding stock carbine was a weapon unique to the paratroops in WW2. Manufactured by the Inland Arms division of General Motors, this weapon utilized a small, specially designed .30 caliber bullet which was considered a compromise between a pistol and a rifle. The side-folding stock of tubular metal has a leather cheek plate on the left side. Early models were made without a bayonet lug. The photo above shows an M1-A1 with stock extended and an unusual adaptation to fit a sling just behind the muzzle. Being as this photo was taken in spring, 1944 before Normandy, it is interesting to note that Captain Sammie N. Homan of F/501, is wearing an M43 field jacket, which were not generally issued until the Market Garden operation. The photo was made at Imber range, in Wiltshire, near Salisbury Plain, England, on live ammo firing practice. The carbines, which were usually issued to officers and men assigned to crew-served weapons like M.G.s and mortars, were the subject of many complaints. They lacked knockdown power, even at short range, and were frequently discarded in disgust. Photo courtesy Sammie N. Homan

Light Machinegun M1919 A-4

Individual Ammunition Loads
For Normandy-506th PIR

"Pineapple"

News Source : Here Technorati Tags: Medal of Honor Airborne, EA		Buy
posted by RichTea

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