Allied Parachute Colors; WWII

[R. Watkins]

Can anyone provide me with information regarding the type of parachute colors

used during the latter part of WWII?

I believe that red was used to denote ammunition/ordinance, but were there

any other colored chute codes also used, e.g. yellow, green, etc?

 

Thanks for any help with this.

[Av8er]

Your are referring to the G-1 cargo parachutes. I’m sure Rigger Depot will chime in as soon as he sees your post. I am currently looking for a excellent reference website that has details on the canopies that you are looking for. As soon as I find it I will post the link. The 24’ G-1 cargo chutes came in red, white, blue, green and blue as far as I can recall. According to the Airborne operations Field Manual the colors were supposed to be changed for each operation. For example, in Normandy Red may have been munitions, in Holland red may have been fuel, and so on. The cargo loads were typically belly mounted on racks beneath the C-47 fuselage and electrically released. After action reports recommended that the separate bundles on each aircraft be “daisy chained” together with rope so that the released bundles would all land closely together. This was to aid in rapid recovery of the bundles.

[Av8er]

Sorry, I said blue twice, I meant yellow. Here is the link that I referred to that shows the details and part numbers on the canopies. Other pages provide more details on the different ‘A’ packs for cargo. Sorry, his webpage is in French, you will have to use translator.

 

http://philippe.chapill.pagesperso-orange.fr/page/parachute%20G1.htm

[Av8er]

Here is a link to the PDF for the Airborne Tactics and Techniques WWII Field Manual 31-30. Page 51 specifies altering the colors of colored parachute canopies used for different types of cargo for deception and operational security.

 

https://ia800405.us.archive.org/4/items/FM31-30/FM31-30.pdf

[R. Watkins]

AvBer - Thanks for both the information and links. The possibility of color canopy changes on an operational basis

is something I had not considered.

Looking forward to pouring through that FM.

 

Thanks again for all your help with this topic/

[Av8er]

This Operation Varsity manifest was posted by the Troop Carrier Group on Facebook and I thought you might like to see what I was referring to as far as colors being changed by Operation. It shows that during Operation Varsity ammunition cargo loads were coded as yellow.

[R. Watkins]

Very informative. I had been laboring under the false premise that the 'red' was the standard color
used to identify ordnance, but on reflection, changing canopy color codes from one operation to

another makes perfect sense.

Thanks much for this additional information.

[doyler]

Section of a chute I found.