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Type B-2 survival pack


P-59A
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This is an issued B-2 USAAF survival pack named to F. H. Parten. I have not researched him. This is well used and had no contents when I got it. I know it connects to the harness. but not sure how.

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  • 1 month later...

I  ran the info. Fenald H. Parten was born in Bowman N.D. 24OCT23. He enlisted in the USAAC  02AUG42, S/N 17107382 and held the rank of TSGT. He passed away in Sawyer WI. 13OCT94 and was buried at Ft. Snelling Nat. Cem. Minneapolis Minn.

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The 451st Bombardment Group was a B-24 Liberator group that was based in Italy during 1944-45 and took part in the strategic bombing campaign as well as providing some support for the tactical air force in Italy.

The group was activated on 1 May 1943 and trained with the B-24. It was one of six B-24 groups that were originally expected to reach the Fifteenth Air Force by the end of December 1943. Only three of these groups arrived on time, including the 451st, although the group didn't officially arrive at its first Italian base until mid January 1944.

The group's main job was to take part in the strategic bombing campaign across Europe. It ranged across most of southern Europe, hitting targets in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece. It attacked industrial targets, oil refineries, aircraft factories and other strategic targets.

From time to time the group took part in tactical operations to directly support the fighting on the ground.

On 29 March 1944 the group took part in the Fifteenth Air Force's first 'thousand ton' raid, part of Operation Strangle, the attempt to isolate the German front line in Italy.

On 17 May 1944 the group was one of ten B-24 groups to attack the Italian harbours of Piombino, San Stefano and Porto Ferraio (Elba), part of a wider effort to support the advance on Rome.

In August 1944 the group was used to support Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the south of France.

In September 1944 it was even used as a transport unit, flying supplies to isolated positions in Italy.

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Interesting. I guess I assumed these were only used with seat parachutes. I never picked on up as I knew I would then have to get all the variants with their unobtainium contents. 

Very cool. 

Dave

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12 minutes ago, dmar836 said:

Interesting. I guess I assumed these were only used with seat parachutes. I never picked on up as I knew I would then have to get all the variants with their unobtainium contents. 

Very cool. 

Dave

That was my thought too when I picked this up. The only thing I ever got was the compass. I wonder why he took it home. Flown combat gear isn't common, or at least as common as Army field gear.

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You're assuming he brought it home, and considering the circumstances I highly doubt he did. The most probable was that the kit with parachute remained in use then surplus, cycled around for a little then in your hands many decades later.  

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Dustin, any perspective on an EM/NCO with a seat parachute survival kit? First I've seen. Appears obvious he was crew and not a flight sgt.

Looks from injury report that he may have had frostbite?

Dave

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I have a named combat flown  A-5 parachute harness and chest pack from the flight engineer of a B-24. He took it home after the war. Like I said that stuff is not  common.

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4 hours ago, dmar836 said:

Dustin, any perspective on an EM/NCO with a seat parachute survival kit? First I've seen. Appears obvious he was crew and not a flight sgt.

Looks from injury report that he may have had frostbite?

Dave

Dave, That description of the injury is missing details. My first thought was frostbite too, but for it to be so bad they send you home? I have never read a breakdown of the injury's of bomber crews.  Not to mention they considered it to be a combat injury. Does that mean he was awarded a PH? His fingers could have been crushed or burned too. An electrical fire would be a possibility. That would also fit that tidbit of information. Too many possibilities. I'll need his packet to know for sure.  Yours David

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4 hours ago, dmar836 said:

Dustin, any perspective on an EM/NCO with a seat parachute survival kit? First I've seen. Appears obvious he was crew and not a flight sgt.

Looks from injury report that he may have had frostbite?

Dave

 

The back type parachute kit would fully integrate to a QAC (Quick Attachable Chest) harness. A typical for aircrew. Parachute emergency kits were issued to all crew positions, regardless of rank. I would agree that we see more commissioned officer stenciled kits than NCO. Personal Equipment Officers would stencil identifying markings on parachute systems after fitting them to a user. You see the same applications on standard back cushions as well, which the parachute kit replaced when attached. Sometimes the parachute harness itself was stenciled with the name of the user after fitting, or often and easier to just stencil the back cushion for quick spot identification. When the harness was hanging there, the pad side forward, it was pretty easy for Parten to know which one was his. Additionally, when all the chutes were in the plane or in a pile to be loaded pre-mission, each crew member knows which is his. Observe in images pre and post missions, you'll see the parachute harnesses kind of lumped together.

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His fingers might have been hurt when he was taking that B-2 pack! Maybe a nun sneak attack?

 

I guess I can't picture a guy with a QAC setup carrying this type of survival kit. Guess I never really thought about what bomber crews did typically carry. Just the E-1 kit or whatever they7 had in pockets?

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42 minutes ago, dmar836 said:

His fingers might have been hurt when he was taking that B-2 pack! Maybe a nun sneak attack?

 

I guess I can't picture a guy with a QAC setup carrying this type of survival kit. Guess I never really thought about what bomber crews did typically carry. Just the E-1 kit or whatever they7 had in pockets?

Do you think they cracked a ruler over his knuckles when he was caught? 🤣

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16 hours ago, dmar836 said:

His fingers might have been hurt when he was taking that B-2 pack! Maybe a nun sneak attack?

 

I guess I can't picture a guy with a QAC setup carrying this type of survival kit. Guess I never really thought about what bomber crews did typically carry. Just the E-1 kit or whatever they7 had in pockets?

 

I think it is easy to over look in images, most probably don't notice but sometimes you have to look close and you can see the zipper on the back pads. For now on, pay closer attention when looking at bomber crew images. In the up coming Vol-3 that covers all sustenance and emergency kits, I have multiple images of aircrew with parachute kits and with the QAC. In Vol-1 there are images that I used to demonstrate the attachment of the pararaft but they all also show the parachute kit attached, to both QAC and seat type parachutes.

 

Here is one I didn't use in Volume One, it is showing the original prescribed method of attachment of the pararaft to the harness, leg straps through the slot. This was prior to the formal addition of the snap hooks, a look back sort of speak. The pararaft pack clearly has the adopted snap hooks but simply just illustrating an outmoded method. Note it is a QAC harness with parachute emergency kit attached.

 

QAC.jpg.f669c6064652cb52f9f43c21c83b9c67.jpg  

 

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phantomfixer

good info on this thread...I can only recall a few examples of a raft attached to a QAC...and as Dustin stated...easily overlooked...with all the gear thrown about the plane before or after missions...

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Great info. Thanks. Have you seen photos of the B-2 on a QAC? I assume it would be attached in the same manner. I'm also trying to figure out the two flaps on P-59As pack and envision how they might have been configured in the setup.

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2 hours ago, dmar836 said:

Great info. Thanks. Have you seen photos of the B-2 on a QAC? I assume it would be attached in the same manner. I'm also trying to figure out the two flaps on P-59As pack and envision how they might have been configured in the setup.


dmar!

that is a QAC in that picture. Under is butt is a one man parachute raft. 
the flaps as you mention are two, one top of kit and the other bottom. In the image above the bottom flap is folded and tacked to pack. On a standard seat type parachute that flap goes over the parachute pack and the tie tapes at the corner attach to the forward loops of the parachute container, same location as a seat cushion. Since there is not a chute as a seat on the QAC it really has no where to go hence folded up and tacked up. The top flap had a notch for the neck, it is a quasi shoulder harness that is in turn tacked with thread to the parachute harness over the shoulders. The three tabs on the lower back of the pack secure around the lower horizontal parachute webbing. 
 

 

 

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2 hours ago, dustin said:


dmar!

that is a QAC in that picture. Under is butt is a one man parachute raft. 
the flaps as you mention are two, one top of kit and the other bottom. In the image above the bottom flap is folded and tacked to pack. On a standard seat type parachute that flap goes over the parachute pack and the tie tapes at the corner attach to the forward loops of the parachute container, same location as a seat cushion. Since there is not a chute as a seat on the QAC it really has no where to go hence folded up and tacked up. The top flap had a notch for the neck, it is a quasi shoulder harness that is in turn tacked with thread to the parachute harness over the shoulders. The three tabs on the lower back of the pack secure around the lower horizontal parachute webbing. 
 

 

 

Ok, I see that. That always bugged me.

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It is really a horrible design concept. When you look at it, its like looking at a M-1910 or M-1928 haversack and makes you scratch your head. Interestingly, even during the design phases of the B-2 it was suggested to add shoulder straps to assure it stays with the user but for some reason the Materiel Command never pursued that design concept. It is 100% secured to the parachute harness, the idea was that after the user landed they would cut the harness appropriately and use the harness itself as the shoulder straps. But as operational use illustrated, this was not the case often getting lost in the trees or lost when bailing out over water. When the Navy began to be interested in a personal emergency kit they tested and evaluated the USAAF kits. In layman's terms, they thought it was super lame. They modified the idea for theirs to include a shoulder harness and securing tapes to hold the components in place. The USAAF concept was a pressure fit only, well guess what happens when the kits get jostled around? all those items end up in a pile at the bottom. However, all these deficiencies were remedied with the C-1 vest.

Note where the top flap secures to harness, where they are tacked is relevant to the fitted user.

QAC1.jpg.7d86ac01515d09e280a451b3fd32ab9c.jpg

 

On the QAC, the bottom flap was folded up but also note how the kit attaches to horizontal parachute webbing.

QAC2.jpg.b23bdf070fc3b48a039adce13a22e6d2.jpg

QAC3.jpg.bca987c4c38cb57107fe20c5b67a2a3c.jpg

 

Comparative view with a seat type parachute, see how it drapes down and over the parachute pack. I'm not clear what this feature was to accomplish, the top I get as it holds the top of the kit in place and from shifting left and right. Now mind you, this container was designed well prior to the adoption of the pararaft so it has nothing to do with it. 

QAC4.jpg.56d6ffe774cad9a7adac172daf0326aa.jpg

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I jumped once with a static line military chute many years ago. It had a main back pack and the chest pack was the reserve chute. Looking at that side profile I see lots of loose  harness and I don't think I would have liked to jump with that rig. I agree that is a very poor design.

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