Red Army Double canopy parachutes.

[davidlayne 5]

Steven Zaloga's 'Red Army Handbook' has a shot of Soviet paratroops using 2 chutes per man. anyone got any idea why they would try this? They look like full size chutes, I would have thought that would lead to more, dangerous, air-time?

It's not entirely clear whether the picture is in training or from the disastrous drop on the Dnieper in '43, can't find another example on the web.



PICKED THIS UP FROM ANOTHER FORUM I FREQUENT, ANYONE ANY SUGGESTIONS.

I don't care how many skydives you've got,
until you stepped into complete darkness at
800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs
of parachute, son you are still a leg!

[skypuppy 1]

In pre-war Russia it was common to deploy both chutes simply to give a softer landing. Also interesting is that Russian chutes at the time were actually square-shaped to make them easier to manufacture.

There's a couple of pictures in John Week's book, "Assault from the Sky", but not a lot of explanation.

There were various other pockets even in North America where it was not uncommon to deploy both chutes if you had two -- an earlier skydiver in Ontario mentioned that at one airshow they could each take only one because they didn't have enough to go around. The Irving parachutes seemed to have a reputation as being quite expensive, although trying to jump a parachute designed to go out of a balloon often led to fatalities when the jumper exited an airplane with its higher airspeed.

This is all pre Second World War.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[skypuppy 1]

Here's a scan. I guess with the square shape they were also easier to slip one way or the other.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[FeFe 0]

that's funny
there is a mosaics in one of Moscow subway stations (dating back to pre WW2 or very beginning of it) picturing parachutists with two out
I used to laugh at the wuffo artist... not anymore!

[skypuppy 1]

that's funny
there is a mosaics in one of Moscow subway stations (dating back to pre WW2 or very beginning of it) picturing parachutists with two out
I used to laugh at the wuffo artist... not anymore!
__________________________________________________

That is pretty kewl, man!

Interesting that the mural shows round parachutes - you can see by what I posted how square the older chutes looked. I have another I'll try to scan and post showing the square main with the reserve just deploying.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[Yossarian 0]

theres a video here from 1935 showing a mass red army drop, only one canopy and its round...

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=guestpass&id=perpk