Silk parachute

[Combatzone]

HI Everyone....was wondering if anyone had seen one of these before? Sure the clever people out there might have an idea what it was used for as it's too small for a parachute bomb and looks a bit heavy duty for a flare so any guesses welcome! Interesting opening mechanism. Hard to find survivors as many silk items were usually made into underwear or other garments so I can find little to compare to. It's about 90 cm circumference and about 50 cm deep and well marked as you can see from pics. Probably nylon as proper silk was in short supple.
Look forward to seeing what people think....and appreciate you taking the time to get involved.

[Willmore]

Hi there.

I have not seen one of these before, but found the following info -

Luftwaffe drogue parachute or in the local vernacular "Hilfsschirm" or "help parachute" that would originally have been contained in either a pilot's seat or back pack type 'chute. Made of silk the diameter of the canopy is about 24" (61 cm) and retains all its original cords as shown. The end loop would have originally been attached to the top of the main canopy by a short length of cable and when the D ring was pulled would have exited first from the pack and be opened by the folded spring frame inside and so ensure the full canopy deploys with all possible speed.

Alongside is a crisp 'BA 1761' stamp applied by the quality control department in the factory and standing for 'Betriebs Aufsicht' and below a clear production date of 11 July 1942. Adjoining this is a further stamp reading 315585 which is probably the production werk number.

WWII Luftwaffe drogue parachute

Kind regards,

Will.

[Combatzone]

That's amazing Will, thank you so much. It recently came from a veterans estate and I was lucky to find it

[Willmore]

My pleasure.

[The Devil's Bank]

It's probably for a flare, I had one very similar.

[Peter L]

Here are two pictures on my Fallschirm für LC50F flare for comparition



BR
Peter

[Willmore]

Very interesting Peter, thank you for posting. So it looks like the Hilfsschirm and the Fallschirm für LC50F flare had different codes and markings.