# Parachute Jumps In Rhodesia



## AWP (May 31, 2007)

Pardus, you ever hear of anything like this? Stolen from http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/for...view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread



> It's LALO rather than HALO, but a Rhodesian I once worked with told me of a brother whose unit jumped static line with no reserve. They exited from 500 ft so they didn't need one.
> 
> I asked him if they had a belly or back mount container but he didn't know.
> 
> ...





> Re: static-line jumps during the Rhodesian War.
> Four man teams from the Rhodesian Light Infantry often 3 or 4 combat jumps per day from DC-3/C-47 Dakotas.
> They would jump ahead of fleeing "terrs" to lay stopper ambushes. Once the terrs were dead, the 4 man teams were helicoptered back to base to prepare for their next mission.
> The regimental history of the RLI shows them kitted-up with motorcycle helmets, vest webbing, FN rifles and back-mounted static-line parachutes, but not reserves. Their main canopies were a mixture of T-10s and similar French canopies. Most of their jumps were planned from 500 feet, far too low for reserves to be of any use! A few times pilots mis-read rising terrain and dropped them from 300 feet!
> They were tough young men!


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## pardus (May 31, 2007)

Yep all sounds accurate to me, except the boots... Not sure about them, sounds a little dodgy, but all the rest yes, I know a few guys who were doing that.

Weapons were open carry strapped to the leg, who wants the 240? ouch.

I know of up to 3 combat jumps a day off the top of my head.

The Selous Scouts didnt generally do the para drop to act as cut offs/ambushs etc... they were normally intel gathering, setting things up for the RLI, RAR etc... to drop and do the killing.

The SAS at least were doing HALO as well. 

I know the Germans during WW2 and Brit paras in modern times have/were jumping as low as 250 ft


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## Boondocksaint375 (May 31, 2007)

250?  I couldnt imagine that shit.  Our Astan jump was at 500 and I wasn't expecting to hit the ground when I did.


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## pardus (May 31, 2007)

Yours was at night though right?

I think the 250's were all day jumps, hence the height.


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## Marauder06 (May 31, 2007)

They're all night jumps for me


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## Boondocksaint375 (May 31, 2007)

yeah, I think I jumped twice in the daytime while I was in (not counting airborne school)


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## pardus (May 31, 2007)

Cant conduct a good cut off op in the bush at night ;)


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## Rhodesian Militaria (Feb 26, 2008)

I would like to reply to some of the above posts in regard to parachuting in Rhodesia. I have never parachuted and I never served in Rhodesia. I am writing a book on the history of the Rhodesian Parachute Training School 1961-80 and I know a number of former PJI's who served in Rhodesia, including two of the original members.



> I believe there were some "unemployed" US special forces guys that were involved in some of the HALO stuff in Rhodesia both with there paras and and Selous scouts......their names escape me at the moment, but they probably wouldn’t want them mentioned anyhow!


There were no "unemployed" US SF blokes involved with the security forces, they were gainfully employed, just like they were from any other country. All parachuting was instructed by PJI's at No.1 Parachute Training School, New Sarum, Rhodesia. Some of the security forces were qualified as parachutists at Bloemfontein, South Africa when the Rhodesians couldn't handle the numbers. 


> Re: static-line jumps during the Rhodesian War.
> Four man teams from the Rhodesian Light Infantry often 3 or 4 combat jumps per day from DC-3/C-47 Dakotas.


I don't know of any RLI four man teams that jumped, sticks were generally bigger than that starting from 10-12 upwards. 


> A few times pilots mis-read rising terrain and dropped them from 300 feet!
> They were tough young men!


No doubt they were tough but the above statement is incorrect. There was one known mistake by a Dak pilot to where the stick was dropped at 350 feet. There were no fatalities but a number of serious injuries. Static drops ranged from 450 feet minimum above, with the standard being approximately 500 feet. This had been done by the British for a lot of years, but it was thought it couldn't be done in Rhodesia due to the height above sea level. The PJI's proved them wrong. 


> Had a friend in the RLI and he said that a guy he knew made 4 combat jumps in a single day doing the ambush thing. Most airborne don't make 4 combat jumps in a career. He also said that they had a couple fatalities from the rising DZ and the last couple guys in the stick impacted before line stretch.


There is no record of anyone doing four combat jumps in one day. There are at least two instances of some members of the RLI doing three jumps into contacts in one day, but this is rare. As for the fatalities mentioned above, this is incorrect. There were two deaths from military parachuting in Rhodesia that I know of; one was a soldier in the RAR (Rhodesian African Rifles) and the other was of an SAS soldier doing a HALO into Mozambique where the chutes failed to open. There were more parachute descents by the Rhodesian Security Forces during the 'Bush War' than by any other military in history, yet the injury rate remained below 0.7%.


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## pardus (Feb 26, 2008)

pgarratt said:


> There was one known mistake by a Dak pilot to where the stick was dropped at 350 feet. There were no fatalities but a number of serious injuries. .



Are you sure about that height? I heard that drop was at 200ft.

http://www.shadowspear.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10082


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## Kurt V (Feb 26, 2008)

pardus762 said:


> Are you sure about that height? I heard that drop was at 200ft.
> 
> http://www.shadowspear.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10082



That would be amazing. What chutes did they jump with. I believe the US T-10 takes about 250 feet to fully open!


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## AWP (Feb 26, 2008)

I've seen a chart on T-10C failure rates at varying heights but I can't find it now. Searching FM 57-220 was of no help. Anyway, I recall a 75% success rate @ 200' with the T-10C. Past 250' was in the mid to high 90's. The new low level chutes are supposed to allow you to exit at 250-300'.

There was a drop in the Pacific during WWII from ~175'. I do not recall the casualty rate.


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## pardus (Feb 26, 2008)

Freefalling said:


> There was a drop in the Pacific during WWII from ~175'. I do not recall the casualty rate.



Wow, you could just jump without a cute at that height! :eek:



Kurt V said:


> That would be amazing. What chutes did they jump with. I believe the US T-10 takes about 250 feet to fully open!



I could ask, I dont know what cutes they used.

Pgarret prob does though....


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## AWP (Feb 26, 2008)

Doing some digging I may be thinking of the jump into Nadzab which was at 250'...but I swear there was one lower than that, maybe a practice jump before that operation. My Google skills must be off tonight since I can't find it.


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## irnbndr (Feb 26, 2008)

Kurt V said:


> That would be amazing. What chutes did they jump with. I believe the US T-10 takes about 250 feet to fully open!



I believe that most static line canopies open around that hieght, some a little less.  But 200 ft. AGL?  I don't think so.


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## irnbndr (Feb 26, 2008)

Sure would be fun to watch though!!


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## pardus (Feb 26, 2008)

Freefalling said:


> Doing some digging I may be thinking of the jump into Nadzab which was at 250'...but I swear there was one lower than that, maybe a practice jump before that operation. My Google skills must be off tonight since I can't find it.



I wonder how low the 82nd was dropped in Sicily when they lost those guys in the jump there, there must have been some very low jumps, fatal as they were.


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## Rhodesian Militaria (Feb 26, 2008)

> Are you sure about that height? I heard that drop was at 200ft.


I know that video and I know what has been said, but I will find out and clarify it. I am led to believe that it was not that low. The PJI's knew what heights the paratroopers were dropped at, because they had the final say of whether the jump went ahead. Will get back to you on it.


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## pardus (Feb 26, 2008)

pgarratt said:


> I know that video and I know what has been said, but I will find out and clarify it. I am led to believe that it was not that low. The PJI's knew what heights the paratroopers were dropped at, because they had the final say of whether the jump went ahead. Will get back to you on it.



That would be awesome, thanks.


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## Rhodesian Militaria (Feb 26, 2008)

One of the types of chutes used was the South African SAVIAC, I think Mk1 amd Mk2.


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## car (Feb 26, 2008)

--- There was a quote here, but it was the wrong one. Following sentence was directed at Boon.  Apologies. ---

Your boyz jumped into Point Salines, Grenada, from 500 ft.



pardus762 said:


> Are you sure about that height? I heard that drop was at 200ft.
> 
> http://www.shadowspear.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10082



Anything below 200 ft. makes it damned difficult to recover from any kind of malfunction - look up to make sure you've got a canopy above your head, then land.

'Course, it's been a few years since I threw anybody out of an airplane. :uhh:


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## Rhodesian Militaria (Feb 26, 2008)

Without trying to sound like an expert, which I'm not, there has been stuff written about in regard to the military parachuting in Rhodesia, both in books and on google, that is incorrect or partially correct. The reason for the writing of this book is simple. 



The surviving PJI's, including the 1st OC, 2nd OC, 3rd and longest serving OC, sadly the 4th and last OC has passed away, want to see the true story of the PTS told. The war ended 27 years ago and very little has ever been written about them and what they accomplished. A fair bit of what has been written is very basic and some has serious incaccuracies. There were never anymore than 50 PJI's in the 19 years of it's existence and a large number of these men came from distinguished military careers, not only in the Rhodesian Army but also from the British SAS, Parachute Regiment and the French Foreign Legion. While books have been written about the Rhodesian SAS, Selous Scouts, RLI and the RAR (Rhodesian African Rifles), nothing has been written about the people that taught these units parachuting and despatched them on the many internal 'fireforce' or external missions.


Some of what has been written is incorrect and contains inaccuracies. The stories of former US Special Forces personnel being involved in teaching HALO and LALO techniques is incorrect. Only one Rhodesian PJI was a former US Special Forces soldier. In fact as the book will point out, the Rhodie technique training paratroopers was and is considered of a higher calibre than the Americans were using at that time.


Also I think the book will be of interest to people who are interested in military parachuting. The fact that the Rhodesians were so informal in the uniform they sometimes wore, wearing shorts and veldskoens or vellies and in some cases basketball shoes on parachute jumps into combat. I don't know of any military in the world that has allowed this. Even though they jumped in small numbers, the total amount of parachute jumps into combat is higher than the world's total combination in history. The techniques and changes they had to make to equipment or invent, due to sanctions by the world and the UN. All of this and more I would think would make good reading.
Well it's turned into a bit of a plug for my book, but it was originally designed  to show that a fair bit of what is written on this subject is not factually correct.


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## pardus (Feb 27, 2008)

I would definatly like to read your book when It comes out.


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## Rhodesian Militaria (Feb 27, 2008)

Hello pardus762,

Should be published by this time next year. Large coffee-table size book with lots of photos never before published, including photos of some of the boys freefalling from 10,000 ft at Busselton, Western Australia earlier this year. This was at the first PJI reunion since the end of the war in 1980. Also missions, history, insignia, wings, technical breakdown of chutes used etc. At least seven of the PJI's are writing chapters themselves from a personal point of view. Possibly two of the Dak pilot's will write chapters, but I have yet to arrange this.
About 45-50 Leather bound limited editions will be also be released. These will have the signatures of at least ten former PJI's.

Cheers,
Peter

Photo:

Former PJI and Rhodesian SAS soldier jumping at Busselton, Western Australia 2008 from 10,000ft with Rhodesian flag.


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## Kurt V (Feb 27, 2008)

It's not just the chute fully opening, you still have to have some room to slow down! At 250 feet I would think you would be hitting the ground at over 30 mph!


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## pardus (Feb 27, 2008)

Spoke with a mate last night, ex 44 para, SADF.
He said their jumps were all at 500ft anything lower caused broken bones etc... the jumps at 250ft were normally mistakes he said.
The SADF jumped with a T10 'similar' cute.


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## Royal (May 20, 2008)

Rhodesian Militaria said:


> Should be published by this time next year.



Definitely be interested in a look...


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## uitlander (Nov 3, 2008)

*Rhodesia Para jumps*

I served in the RLI & was was part of the Fireforce Pare drops. I knew some of the guys from Spt CDO who were dropped from 250 to 300 ft on a combat Fireforce drop. Guys were banged up but continued the mission.
1 Commando did 3 para call outs in one day. an RLI trooper had 73 operational jumps in his time in the RLI.
As a Vietnam vet I thought the use of para troops in the Fireforce actions worked well to our advantage & helped in the terrs killed.
Cheers for now mates,
Uitlander


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## Torch (Nov 5, 2008)

Freefalling said:


> Pardus, you ever hear of anything like this? Stolen from http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/for...view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread



In the mid 1980s the Germans were practicing at 250-300 AGL. IIRC the configuration was 3 smaller chutes replaced the main and no reserve. They cancelled the program after several fatalities to include their senior ranking NCO.


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## AWP (Nov 5, 2008)

Torch said:


> In the mid 1980s the Germans were practicing at 250-300 AGL. IIRC the configuration was 3 smaller chutes replaced the main and no reserve. They cancelled the program after several fatalities to include their senior ranking NCO.



The UK did some low altitude work in the late 90's with exits around 300'. I don't recall of any fatalities.

Realistically you could get combat loaded troops out the door at altitudes slightly lower than that, but the training and gear required would be extensive and quite different than what most are used to. So the KISS principle applies when dealing with less than perfect environments. Still, an exit at 300'/ 100m with a round chute and no reserve wearing a metric shit-ton of equipment is quite possible with a properly designed and rigged parachute. I wouldn't do it with a T-10 series though. The gear is out there.


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## pardus (Nov 5, 2008)

Torch said:


> In the mid 1980s the Germans were practicing at 250-300 AGL. IIRC the configuration was 3 smaller chutes replaced the main and no reserve. They cancelled the program after several fatalities to include their senior ranking NCO.



The Fallschirmjager were jumping at 90m (300') during WWII IIRC.


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