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  2. Silk Car on PRR 1943

Re: Silk Car on PRR 1943

Jeffrey White
 

According to the US Army Quartermaster Museum website, the cargo parachutes were initially made of cotton and later they were made from rayon:

http://www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/WWII/aerial_supplies.htm

Looking through all of my references (I spent part of my youth jumping from perfectly good airplanes) I've been unable to ascertain what the canopy of the T5 chute and the other personnel parachutes was made of.

How many cars were equipped for this service?� I wouldn't guess there were a lot of them.

Jeff White������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Alma, IL


On 12/15/2016 9:39 AM, 'Gatwood, Elden J CIV CESAW CESAD (US)' elden.j.gatwood@... [STMFC] wrote:

�

Gang;

One of the interesting special loads notes in the ORER has to do with the PRR's "silk cars" X31A, modified 1943 for this service. Got to thinking this has to be for the Airborne's parachute industry, as by '43, it was not going to "nylons", was it?

http://digital.hagley.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A2364785?solr_nav[id]=e15f9ca5810115712d1a&solr_nav[page]=3&solr_nav[offset]=21

So, how did the interior racking of silk work? There appears to be a cross-car rail for something to roll onto, plus these rails to move the load to either end. Anyone know how this worked?

Elden Gatwood
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