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"German Parachute Cartridge for Wind Measurement" from Tactical and Technical Trends

The following comment on a German flare gun cartridge for wind measurement was originally published in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 10, Oct. 22, 1942.

[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]
 

GERMAN PARACHUTE CARTRIDGE FOR WIND MEASUREMENT

A captured document from the Middle East gives some information on these cartridges, which are fired from a standard Very pistol, either held in the hand or placed on a stand. The size and weight of the cartridges are as follows:

        length - 135 mm (5.3 in)
        weight -  96 gm (3.3 oz)

The cartridge may be easily recognized by the closing disk, painted white, with the inscription Fallschirmpatrone für Windmessung on the side.

At the highest point of flight, about 70 meters, a red parachute to which is attached a silk ribbon 1 meter long and 4 centimeters wide is released. This ribbon is held taut by a small iron weight.

Comment: This parachute would give wind data accurate enough for use by field artillery. Although no details are available as to the scale of issue of this equipment, it would be of value to units other than artillery.

 
 


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