Early HALO or simply impossible?

[Bokdrol 40]

I've been reading excerpts from the memoirs of General Keith Coster who was in command of the Rhodesian Army during the Second Chimurenga, or War of Independence, in the 1970's. Prior to his service in Rhodesia, Coster was an allied fighter pilot who was shot down and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, from which the Great Escape was launched.  One of his fellow POW's was Paul Brickhill, an Australian, who wrote the book about the escape. However, my question concerns an anecdote in the memoirs.

 Quote

'' We had a USAF lieutenant-colonel in our room called Jamie Murray. He had bailed out of his Flying Fortress [B-17] at 30,000 feet, and decided to free-fall most of the way. He became so intrigued with the free-fall, that he only just got the parachute open in time''

Unquote

So this question is probably more for the HALO experts out there, preferably if they are WW11 Flying Fortress buffs. Would this have been possible? My simple mind tells me that Coster's recollection might have been muddied over the 50-60 years that passed between WW11 and his penning his memoirs. Oxygen deprivation (unless there was a bail-out bottle in those days) and therefore hypoxia must surely have come into play at 30k and the opening shock at terminal from a WW11 bail-out rig would have been immense. I don't believe that sliders had been invented back then. Probably didn't have an alti either but then the USAF did fly their missions in daylight which would have helped a bit.

As an aside, another of Gen Coster's fellow POW's was an RAF Sergeant Alkemade, who was blown out of a Lancaster bomber without a parachute. He fell from about 16,000 feet and landed in a very deep snowdrift. He sprained his ankle and lived to tell the tale...

 

[MickPatch 44]

Obviously nearly two decades later but the highest recorded bail out (survived) was from a Canberra at 56000 ft in 1958.

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-parachute-escape

[wmw999 2,122]

1 hour ago, Bokdrol said:

I've been reading excerpts from the memoirs of General Keith Coster who was in command of the Rhodesian Army during the Second Chimurenga, or War of Independence, in the 1970's. Prior to his service in Rhodesia, Coster was an allied fighter pilot who was shot down and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, from which the Great Escape was launched.  One of his fellow POW's was Paul Brickhill, an Australian, who wrote the book about the escape. However, my question concerns an anecdote in the memoirs.

 Quote

'' We had a USAF lieutenant-colonel in our room called Jamie Murray. He had bailed out of his Flying Fortress [B-17] at 30,000 feet, and decided to free-fall most of the way. He became so intrigued with the free-fall, that he only just got the parachute open in time''

Unquote

So this question is probably more for the HALO experts out there, preferably if they are WW11 Flying Fortress buffs. Would this have been possible? My simple mind tells me that Coster's recollection might have been muddied over the 50-60 years that passed between WW11 and his penning his memoirs. Oxygen deprivation (unless there was a bail-out bottle in those days) and therefore hypoxia must surely have come into play at 30k and the opening shock at terminal from a WW11 bail-out rig would have been immense. I don't believe that sliders had been invented back then. Probably didn't have an alti either but then the USAF did fly their missions in daylight which would have helped a bit.

As an aside, another of Gen Coster's fellow POW's was an RAF Sergeant Alkemade, who was blown out of a Lancaster bomber without a parachute. He fell from about 16,000 feet and landed in a very deep snowdrift. He sprained his ankle and lived to tell the tale...

 

I remember reading that the Brits had a packing method that led to far less dramatic opening shocks, but that’d be less likely out of a Flying Fortress unless there was some info exchange among the packers.

Wendy P. 

[riggerrob 558]

Possible.

Since they did not issue bail-out bottles during World War 2, it is quite probable that the victim lost consciousness for a while on the way down. He probably only regained his senses when the trees got big (e.g. below 3,000 feet above ground level).

While opening at 30,000 feet would be painfully hard, that is mainly due to the high airspeed when you pull the ripcord. As you descend into "oxygen levels" (below 15,000') the thicker air slows your freefall rate.

Early pilot emergency parachutes used Type 1 deployment which had all of the suspension lines stowed in the pack tray. This meant random canopy deployment, then a sever jolt when you fell to the end of the suspension lines.

The first innovation was the French sleeve that hid the canopy fabric from the wind until you fell to line stretch. Sleeves became popular among skydivers during the 1950s.

[riggerrob 558]

On 8/3/2023 at 12:30 PM, wmw999 said:

I remember reading that the Brits had a packing method that led to far less dramatic opening shocks, but that’d be less likely out of a Flying Fortress unless there was some info exchange among the packers.

Wendy P. 

The RAF and RCAF did use a few Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses during World War 2. They were acquired through the Lend -Lease program. The RAF tended to shuffle long-range B-17s and B-25 to the Battle of the Atlantic where their longer-range helped close the Mid-Atlantic Gap to U-boats. Early in the war, U-boats had learned to fear any ship convoy escorted by aircraft ... even US Navy blimps.

The American-made parachutes that came with those American-made airplanes were probably packed in accordance with American (e.g USAAF) manuals. They MIGHT have added a few RAF tricks when packing, but remember that during the war, parachute packers barely had enough time to learn one method of packing one type of parachute. Cross-training was a rare luxury during the hustle of combat patrols.