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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1586.PDF
744 FLIGHT HEAVY LOADS LET DOWN LIGHTLY : ..IT-: '•• : - •' .•"••• .--.•"• / , "••..•',... ..._•" # —by Parachute from Two Big Transports: Dropping Tests by Hercules and Beverley Scenes during the C-130's U.S.A.F. service tests at Pope A.F.B.: (Top) A Marine recoilless-rifle carrier being loaded from trailer-bed; (centre) A two-and-half-ton truck is drawn out of the hold by the extractor parachute; (bottom) the same truck floating down under its six cargo parachutes. The C-130's cargo doors can be opened in flight. HEAVY test-loads of iron and large items of equipment havebeen dropped by parachute recently from both a Black-burn Beverley and a Lockheed C-130 Hercules. During a parachute research programme at Brough, the Beverley para-chuted a 24,000-lb load of steel plates and angle iron, the heaviest single item ever dropped from the air in this country. It is note-worthy that this lOf-ton weight represents less than half the Beverley's payload. The Lockheed C-130 recently flew a programme of 86 sortiesfrom Pope A.F.B., North Carolina, during which it dropped a total of 160 tons of supplies, 485 paratroopers and 315 dummies. Earlierthis year, at El Centro, California, it released the world's record single load of 27,000 lb of iron. The Beverley's load was eased down to the ground at a rate of24 ft /sec by eight of the latest G.Q. segmented cargo parachutes. These each have a flying diameter of 66ft and contain almost1,000 yd of nylon and 96 rigging lines, each 90ft long. The aircraft made the drop when flying at 130 kt, the last part of therun-up being directed by the supply-aimer in the nose. A 14ft extractor parachute, mounted on the rear sill of the freight floor,was first released, to draw the load pallet along the roller con- veyor and out into the airstream. As the load left the aircraft astatic line transferred the pull from the pallet to the main para- chutes and the extractor began to draw these canopies from theirbags. This sequence was so arranged that initially only four feet of the canopies deployed, thus limiting the opening shock. Whenthe load reached the ground the main canopies were automatically detached to prevent dragging. The extractor lowered the maincanopy containers independently tp the ground. The designed touch-down rate of descent, 24ft/sec, is that of a paratrooper.
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