Evening star., 1940-05-12

forth, to be expeditiously placed at
strategic points during warfare, be-
yond the enemy's lines, or at points
which might otherwise be inaccess-
ible in time Of war. The vital factor
is to provide an effective means of
dropping any character Of article
with safety, dispatch and in q man
ner which will enable tirect access
to the article within q very short
period Of time after lanoing.
The shape and formation of the
container may vary considerably
according to what it is to hold,
1t is made Of flexible material in
ternally padded to provide one or
more compartments, the padding
preferably being of material hav-
ing a specific gravity lower than
water, since it is conceivable that
by accident or premeditation, the
carrier may be dropped upon q
body Of water"
More important still, the upper
part is split longitudinally and held
shut with . fastening device oper-
ated by . rip cord. One jerk on
the rip cord ring and the whole top
flies open, exposing the machine
gun, ammunition or whatever the
contents may be more quickly than
If 1t were operated with q Upper,
Everything Is designed for speed.
Release Of the Pack.
The pack is suspended beneath
the wing Of the plane from a re-
leasing device such as an ordinary
bomb rack, operated by a lever in
the cockpit or bomb bay in the
nose Of the ship. When it is re-
leased, wire securely fastened to
the wing pulls out the rip cord of
parachute strapped to the side
OF the pack, the parachute opens
and the pack floats to the ground.
Six planes IN two three ship "V"
formations flew over Brooks Field
that day. Out Of the rear cockpits
OF the second formation three men
jumped simultaneously. A fraction
OF a second later three dark objects
about the size Of a mans body were
released from beneath the lower
wings OF the other three planes and
spectators saw six parachutes float
down to earth in the center of the
landing field. The men landed first.
quickly unlocked their 'chutes and
we're already on the run when the
three large containers dropped from
the other planes bounced to the
ground a few rods away. After they
reached them, it took 80 seconds
for the three men to open the con-
tainers, set up a machine gun, pour
gallon Of water into the water
jacket, insert a clip OF cartridges
and start firing.
The demonstration was repeated
often thereafter, sometimes at, the
Air Corps Training Center gradua-
ton exercises, sometimes for dis
tinguished guests, and the specta-
tors always were impressed, by the
efficiency of the men in assembling
the gun If not the larger implica-
tlons OF the maneuver.
Could Do Lots of DAMAGE,
You could never occupy a large
country like France or Germany
with the troops that could be
landed by parachute" he used to
tell reporters, but you could GER
tainly do lot of damage.
Imagine landing not two or three
squads, but so or 100, at strategic
places behind the enemy lines at a
decisive moment. Many OF them
would be lost, yes, but think of what
they could do before they were cap
tured and think of the trouble and
enort the enemy would have to put
forth before they were captured.
They could cut telephone and
power lines, take over rail heads
not heavily fortified in the rear
areas, disrupt communications and
generally disorganize things. A force
behind the lines, no matter how
small, is bound to demoralize the
enemy. He has to ston what he is