parachutes in the German Air Service

If anyone could give me some imformation on the implementation and use of parachutes in the German Air Service during the later half of 1918 i would very much appreciate it please . Any links or books on the subject , or just general imformation would be great !.
Thanks
BlackSeptember

[Barrett]

Sorry that I don't recall the volume, but years ago Cross & Cockade Journal published a list of known German emergency parachute jumps from airplanes. IIRC, there were something over 30 of which about 20 were successful.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

BlackSeptember:
The Luftstreitkräfte delivered with fighter aircraft as goverment furnished equipment a Heinecke Fallschirm (Parachute). The Luftstreitkrfte began to issue the Heinecke Fallschirm in early 1918 (February ?) The Heinecke Fallschirm was designed by Uffz. Heinecke a member of Feldluftschiffer Abteilung 23 in an effort to improve upon the Paulus Fallschirm used by the Kite balloon units.
The heinecke was small in comparison the present day parachutes, it was 21' in diameter, conical in form.Was made of silk. It was static-line operated.
Uffz heinecke arranged with Schroeder & Co.G./m.b.H to manufacture the Heinecke Parachute.
Dummy and live drop tests were made from aircraft to prove it's strength. It can best be described as "just adequate". The design was marginal at best.
Vzfw Weimar of Jasta 56 was the first to use the Heinecke Fallschirm on 1 april 1918 when he jumped from his burning Alb.D.Va. Many other German pilots would use the Heinecke Fallschirm in the remaining months of WW1, most notably Ltn.Ernst Udet.
Blue Skies,
Dan-San
P.S. I earned my living designing parachutes.

[Rick]

The Heinecke Fallschirm was designed by Uffz. Heinecke a member of Feldluftschiffer Abteilung 23 .

Dan, *you wouldn't happen to know his first name, would you?? * *R.

Thanks Guy's for that great imfo !!!.
Barret , I'll certainly try to find that issue you mentioned !.
Dan , excellent and interesting stuff from you as usual !.
Apart from Udet , I've always found the unsuccessful use of the parachute by Fritz Rumey and Erich Lowenhardt interesting , and food for thought . A strange coincidence that these were both from collisions .
The use of the parachute in aircraft during WWI has always fallen into a grey area for me ..but by using the great leads you both have given me , I hope to improve my knowledge .
I've started to do just that , and found an interesting ( but no doubt fanciful ) personel account of using one of these Heinecke 'shutes by a Gustav Praclik . It appeared in the fall 1996 issue of O.T.F. , and was taken from this pilots memoirs written in 1936 . As a factual account , I don't believe it is of great value ( due to the tendancy of material from this period of German history to be very bombastic ) , but it makes interesting reading if taken with a bucket load of salt ( is that just an aussie expression ?? ). Anyway ..if interested it can be found at
http://www.overthefront.com/articles/art_d...e_jeopardy.html
Thanks again gentlemen !.
Dan , perhaps oneday you would be kind enough to tell us about your career in parachute design , in the off topic section ??...I for one would be very interested to read about it !.
BlackSeptember

[Rick]

I've started to do just that , and found an interesting ( but no doubt fanciful ) personel account of using one of these Heinecke 'shutes by a Gustav Praclik . It appeared in the fall 1996 issue of O.T.F. , and was taken from this pilots memoirs written in 1936 . As a factual account , I don't believe it is of great value ( due to the tendancy of material from this period of German history to be very bombastic ) , but it makes interesting reading if taken with a bucket load of salt ( is that just an aussie expression ?? ).

Although there may be a bit of propaganda associated with any 1930's article, this episode actually occurred. *It is documented in the extracts of the Jasta 5 War Diary, as compiled by the late AE Ferko. * * *R.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

BlackSeptember:
* You raised an interesting topic in regard to Löwenhardt and Rumey. *The biggest problem was the harness. It was an in- adequate design. The smaller a chute, the faster it opens, the faster it opens, the greater the opening force. The Heinecke was tested at McCook Field after the war, it was dropped with a 200 lbs load @ 100mph and parachute failed structurally. *An estimate of structural strength 20 lines @ 275 Lbs each=5500 lbs x 60%=3300 lbs at best. The opening force @ 100mph would be approximately 5200 lbs. to survive the pilot would have to down to around 70-80 mph. No free fall! These were static line operated.
* Up until 1946 parachutes were designed by trial and error. You would design it, make it, and test it. If it failed you would reinforce it and try again. This is what was done in WW1. Following WW2, a design manual written by German engineers (who had immigrated to the US), in 1946 for the US Army Air Forces, Equipment Lab, Wright-Pat designing became scientific and not trial and error.
One of my designs which I am sure you will recognize, is the B-52 Drag Chute. *I designed it for Boeing in 1954.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * Blue skies,
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Dan-San

Dan-San
Thanks alot for that extra imformation , it's helped me to understand the problems facing the designer and pilots using the Heinecke . You described it so well , that even a layman like myself can start to understand just how lucky you would have to be for it to deploy correctly in a situation approaching a vertical dive !.
I'm sure there must have been many challenges also in designing the drag chute for the B-52 !!. I can imagine it takes a lot to slow one of those monsters down !!.
Thanks again Dan .
BlackSeptember

[Dan_San_Abbott]

BlackSeptember:
The CR1100 was 44 ft in diameter, 48 gores and lines each 4000 lbs tensile strength. The Drag Chute weighed 148 lbs packed. It was designed to stop a B-52 touching down at 215 mph in a 15° cross wind. It's design strength 192,000 lbs.
I was involved in "Corona" , Mercury, Gemini and Appollo programs.
My last design, High GlideTactical Parachute had an L/D=5.12 :1 in still air could glide 28 miles from 25000 ft AGL with a ground speed of 59 mph modulate to zero forward speed with a loaded weight of 350 lbsjumper and equipment. It has *not been beat yet! This was designed for tactical insertion. *It's radar signature was like a flock of birds, also it was quiet.
* * * * * * * * * * * * blue skies,
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *Dan-San

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