I want to learn more about USN nylon harness from 50s

[wdnmdwilson]

[RWW]

The harness is a quick attach chest parachute harness. As phantomfixer stated in that post, it is a Navy harness. The current version is the NC-3 which stands for Navy Chest.

 

This style of parachute was used in situations where space was limited and wearing either a seat or back style parachute wasn't practical. If an emergency happened, each person got their parachute and clipped it to the harness just before bailing out. (The D-rings the parachute was clipped to are just above elbow height in the above picture.) This was the least desirable parachute option because in many emergencies people were unable to reach the stowed parachute because of fire, explosion, high g-forces, or movement to a distant part of the aircraft.

 

From the pictures it looks like the harness is made of nylon.

 

That is the parachute each person is carrying in their right hand. The person facing out has laid his parachute on the ground.

 

You can see the clips on the back of the parachute that clip to the D-rings on the harness in this picture.

[wdnmdwilson]

Thanks for the explanation, but I haven't been able to find an image of the harness. Does the actual product still exist?

[dmar836]

wdnmdwilson,

I apologize I have been AWOL for a while.

Here are some pics of an authentic harness described above. This one came from the Olathe Naval Air Station, just south of Kansas City. At this station John Glenn once trained and this NAS was once named Flatley Field. Navy greats there! Off topic but it's still going as New Century Air Center and I have landed there many times.

Hope this helps!

Dave

 

[wdnmdwilson]

Thanks! This could be very useful!