PARACHUTE TECHNIQUE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1940, Page 6

PARACHUTE TECHNIQUE

SCHOOLS IN GERMANY. EXHIBITION “DROPS” PRACTISED. There are, so far as is known, four main parachute schools in Germany, and it would appear that the troops use a standardised method for their operational descents. One of the first points of importance is to judge when to jump, in order to land at a predetermined point. Exhibition parachutists, who spend their lives doing "drops,” often make mistakes as to wind strength, and land some way from where they intended. It seems, according to "The Times” aeronautical correspondent, that the Germans jump from about 3000 feet, though jumps are sometimes made from, as low as GOO feet, which would be about the practical limit. A parachute can to some extend be “steered” during its fall. The shroud lines are pulled and air is spilled from one side or the other, causing the parachute to side-slip in the required direction. Another method used to arrive at the selected landing point is that of choosing the right moment to open the parachute. To ensure that a body of men shall land fairly close to one another the parachutists must be well drilled so that they pour rapidly from the aircraft. Moreover, for the length of their free fall, they must so arrange their delays, the intervals between the men are to some extent smoothed out during the descent. The landing with an emergency parachute is harsh, and on rough ground may lead to minor injuries, but it may be that the German parachutists, with their heavy loads of ammunition and equipment, use bigger canopies than .are common in the emergency types and therefore fall more slowly. It was reported from Holland that there were numerous nests of “parachuteers” in the sand dunes along the coastal region round The Hague, where every little valley between the dunes serves as a natural hiding place. All the German parachute troops carry an iron ration of ersatz food; some oven have little pans to cook it. Frequent parlies, small in numbers, have entered private homes in the woods nearby and forced the occupants to give them shelter. They are very difficult to oust, ns bombardment of the houses would endanger the lives of women and children who are held as hostages inside. Other Germans have found shelter in the houses of compatriots living in Holland, or Nazi sympathisers. One of the most unwholesome aspects of die activities of the parachuteers is the tact that they have been frequently helped by members of the Dutch Nazi parly.