DROPPED IN PARACHUTES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 14

DROPPED IN PARACHUTES

MACHINE GUNS AND CREWS

According to a report recently received by the. .Chief .of the Air Corps, the. technique of landing machine-guns and their crews from aeroplanes is being: constantly improved, says the New York "Times." During a recent demonstration at the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas, two machine-guns were dropped in parachutes and put into action by two crews of three mon each who descended from an aeroplane to the ground via the parachute route. Assembly of the machine-guns and preparing them for firing was only a matter of a few moments.

, This demonstration featured a ma-chine-gun parachute bag, recently developed^ Sergeant Erwin H. Nichols, head of the parachute department of Brooks Field. The parachute supporting the^bag opens automatically upon being thrown from'the aeroplane and floats.to earth. The bag containing the gun, ammunition, and a gallon of water tor use in cooling, opens quickly by means;.of a rip cord similar to that on the parachute..:.......

_ One man_ had'a. thrilling escape when his parachute landed on the roof of the big dirigible hangar at Brooks Field. The roof of this structure has a thirtydegree slope, and is well over 100 ft trom the ground. Despite his precarious position he was able to spill the air trom the parachute and climb to an entrance on the peak of the building none the worse for his experience *"