Parachutes

[Vic_Mouton]

Hi Gang



Apparently the allied pilots were not issued with these live-saving devices because of some unfounded fear that they were a bunch of yellow bellied cowards who would jump at the first sight of a German plane on the horizon.



Who was the first pilot that saved himself by using a parachute?



These contraptions must have been rather bulky and uncomfortable in a WW1 fighter. Does any one know if they had a negative effect on a fighter pilot's performance in combat sitiation?



VBR

Vic

Vic,
As far as I know of the German pilots had them in the latter part of 1917 and they weren't any hinderance to them. The Allies only gave them to the observers who went up in balloons. Most pilots, in the event of a fire in their aircraft engine or fuel tank, usually jumped to their deaths than to be roasted alive. Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker stated that his pilots never were issued any parachutes during the First World War.
VBR,
Jim

Udet was the first pilot to be saved by a parachute, at least a book I read once said so.

[rammjaeger]

Hi Vic,

The Guiness Book of Air Warfare (1993) claimed that Lt. Frigyes Hefty of the 42.Fighter Squadron, Austro Hungarian Air Corps, was the first recorded instance. He jumped from his burning Albatros D.III after fight with Italian Hanriots over the river Piave on 22.August 1918.

But I think the first German pilots parachuted in 1917! The Jasta Pilots reports a whole series of examples for parachute jumps but I did not find an example for 1917 during my limited time of search.

The best discussion I know of regarding RFC/RAF lack of parachutes is, appropriately, in Arthur Gould Lee's memoir, "No Parachute." I've not read it in quite awhile, but I think he attributed lack of "brollies" to bureaucratic indifference rather than the oft-cited fear that pilots would chicken out.

Hello all,
The first recorded jump (successful) I can find is Lt H Steinbrecher Jasta 46 on the 27th June 1918. One can't imagine that the Germans had them very long before someone had to use one. (source ATL)

regards

Darryl

[rammjaeger]

Sounds like a photo finish!
Steinbrecher (27.June) vs. Udet (28.June 1918) if we exclude the unlucky guys like Sakowsky (17.Mai) who did not survive.

Maybe I was fooled by German balloon observers like Peter Rieper who jumped successful in October 1917.

As far as I know, the Germans didn't recieve their Heinkel Harnesses until early spring, 1918. Around the March Offensive. Where is this 1917 stuff coming from?

[rammjaeger]

Jörg Armin Kranzhoff wrote in his excellent book "Fokker Dr.I" (I guess only in German available): "Belts belonged to the standard eqipment and also the 1917 introduced HEINE-parachute." I remember also that the German Air Service testet different models of parachutes.

(Little remark: In 1912 a young Saxon lady, Kätchen Paulus, jumped already successful with a so-called double-parachute from a balloon. I have a very little drawing of the event in one source.)

In "Flying Wing - the Golden Years" (A Pictorial Anthology compiled by Rupert Prior) you can also find a bigger drawing of a British balloon observer just leaving his balloon. The text claims 1917. If you want I e-mail you the picture.