Who Repairs Contax I's ?

[oftheherd]

Thanks for the additional information. Very enlightening. I am no expert on WWII airborne nor their accoutrements. My knowledge might have been more when I was in the US airborne many years ago. But it is always interesting. When I jumped, we did not really use that kind of strap. We tied our rifle to our side (M-1), a BAR would be in a weapons bag, and when I jumped with a (AN-PRC 10) radio, it was in a PAE bag.

I always enjoy reading your posts about your reenactments and the photos you take. Thanks again.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Thank you,

I often still struggle getting those small details right. This photo certainly answers a few of my questions concerning cameramen jumping with the 82nd and 101st during Market Garden. Helps me to improve my re-enactment uniform and items to display.

Meserlin, in his words, got pulled off the mission to go work with Eisenhower, because he was the only one sober enough to answer the request when it came through.

I am sure you and your fellow Airborne troopers benefited a lot from the lessons learned by the guys in WWII, in uniform design and how to carry your gear.

 

[oftheherd]

Yes, a lot was learned, including believe it or not, the parachute. They jumped the T-5,we jumped the T-10. Now I think they use a better steerable 'chute.' We were told ours were steerable, but learned not to believe it much.

My understanding of the T-5 was that when you jumped, the parachuted opened and you fell the length of the shroud lines. With the T-10 as you jumped, the shroud lines arched out behind you and the last thing was that the 'chute came out and opened. You only felt a tug on your shoulders, not the strong opening shock reported by WWII airborne vets.

 

[Elmar Lang]

My first 6 jumps were with the CMP-55 parachute (receiving my civil brevet at an Italian parachuting school where the jumps were under military control): it was back in 1975 and I was just 17 years old. I jumped with a T-10 too, but I was so lightweight (45Kgs.), that it took ages to land.

Later, I used the Soviet UT-15: a high-performance, round parachute, later the US-made StratoCloud and my last jumps done in 1989 were with the Jalbert Para-Foil252.

But I was a sport parachuter and skydiver, with a short military training in parachuting. A soldier involved in a tactical jump, needs a large parachute, because of the huge load of equipment he carries in operational circumstances. A tactical jump was rarely higher than 200 metres AGL so, a highly steerable parachute, in those days, was not really necessary.

I apologize for the OT,

Enzo (E.L.)

 

[Mr_Flibble]

My understanding of the T-5 was that when you jumped, the parachuted opened and you fell the length of the shroud lines. With the T-10 as you jumped, the shroud lines arched out behind you and the last thing was that the 'chute came out and opened. You only felt a tug on your shoulders, not the strong opening shock reported by WWII airborne vets.

There are a number of reports from the night jump into normandy where men lost equipment, like their leg bags and weapons due to the opening shock of the chute (and the C-47s flying too fast to avoid the flak).

I think some of the guys from the Round Canopy Jump Team that do the commemorative jumps for Market Garden use the later slightly steerable parachutes.

Taken last September at the John S Thompson Bridge near Grave. (Epson R-D1 with Jupiter-3)

 

[oftheherd]

My first 6 jumps were with the CMP-55 parachute (receiving my civil brevet at an Italian parachuting school where the jumps were under military control): it was back in 1975 and I was just 17 years old. I jumped with a T-10 too, but I was so lightweight (45Kgs.), that it took ages to land.

Later, I used the Soviet UT-15: a high-performance, round parachute, later the US-made StratoCloud and my last jumps done in 1989 were with the Jalbert Para-Foil252.

But I was a sport parachuter and skydiver, with a short military training in parachuting. A soldier involved in a tactical jump, needs a large parachute, because of the huge load of equipment he carries in operational circumstances. A tactical jump was rarely higher than 200 metres AGL so, a highly steerable parachute, in those days, was not really necessary.

I apologize for the OT,

Enzo (E.L.)

Bolded 1: Well, at least you got the enjoyment of a longer ride.

Bolded 2: Yes, I think the 173rd's jump in Iraq was at 700 feet. The shortest I ever heard of was done by the 503rd Regimental Combat Team (Battlegroup when I was in it in the early 60s, 1/503 in the 82nd Abn at Ft Bragg, and 2/503rd on Okinawa). As I recall, they jumped at 175 feet. We were told it was due to the short length of the drop zone. At the end of it were cliffs and some were reported blown off into the ocean.






What is the Lowest Combat Jump?

From:http://www.173rdairborne.com/amazingpara.htm

W.W.II., Noemfoor was an insignificant little Island off the Northwest Coast of New Guinea. It had two operational airfields and another well-along in construction. The Japanese had scraped these fields out of almost solid coral. 1/503 was to jump on Kamiri airfield. On 3 July 1944, C-47 in twin columns dropped the 1/503 at 400 feet AGL. However due to an altimeter error two aircraft dropped troops at

175 feet (AGL). Dak To by Edward F. Murphy page 327

I have that book and will have to check it out. I never heard only part of them jumped that low. And it was on Corregidor island in the Philippines. If one looks at the patch for the 503rd, one can see the depiction of Corregidor, "The Rock" sometimes said to look like a pork chop. Also it was the 503rd Regimental Combat Team, not the 1/503rd. It had battalions, but they were numbered 1 through 4, not 1/503rd, 2/503rd, etc, that came later with Battlegroups. It's been a long time but I seem to remember the Noemfoor might have been elements of the 11th Abn Div. It was reactivated in the early 60s as the 11th Air Assault Div, the they changed the colors to the 1st Cav Div (Air Assault) before it was deployed to Vietnam.

With the above, you don't need to apologize for the O.T.

There are a number of reports from the night jump into normandy where men lost equipment, like their leg bags and weapons due to the opening shock of the chute (and the C-47s flying too fast to avoid the flak).

I think some of the guys from the Round Canopy Jump Team that do the commemorative jumps for Market Garden use the later slightly steerable parachutes.

Taken last September at the John S Thompson Bridge near Grave. (Epson R-D1 with Jupiter-3)

Great photo Rick. You can see the hole at the apex of the parachutes. That was another difference between the T5 and later 'chutes. In the WWII photos you usually see the troopers oscillating. The 'chute had to spill air from opposite sides on its way down. The hole at the apex stopped that.

Again, I appreciate all your photos, but especially your reenactment photos.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

So Contax I repairs...yeah?

This morning I took the top off my camera and replaced the RF half-mirror and recalibrated the RF (still a little off in the vertical but accurate enough).
The image isn't perfect as I can't get to the mirror in the RF, but it's better than it was with the old beam-splitter.

The glue or putty holding the half-mirror into the bracket broke away without effort and the mirror slid out of it without problems. Taking note of which side of the material had the reflective coating. Most of it had appeared to have flaked off in the center of the piece.

I have picked up some 50/50 beam-splitter material from Surplusshed.com over the years. So I cut a piece of the stuff to the right shape and replaced it in the clamp, holding it down with a drop of rubber cement at the top.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

While I was at it I took a look at the surfaces the film runs over to see what was causing the scratches on my negatives. It was (as suspected by Deklari) the spring/guilde on the take-up spool side. I bent the top edge slightly so it curved away from the film and polished smooth...just in case.


Third test roll's a charm right?