Description
Physical description
Metal container: 40cm diameter, 173cm long; the markings that it now has are non-original.
Label
In airborne warfare, to launch a force by parachute with insufficient weapons is to invite disaster, as the airborne force fights its battles on its own. Dropping the man by parachute is only half the story, for if he is to be a useful soldier on the ground, he must also take his weapons and equipment with him.
In 1939, the RAF had two simple pieces of equipment for dropping stores. One was a small metal container about 30in long and 12in diameter with a lid at one end, and a 10ft parachute at the other end, and could carry up to 150lb. The second was a wooden beam to which small boxes or crates were attached, along with a 14ft parachute and its load was also about 150lb. Both were designed to be carried in bomb bays and could not be dropped at speeds above 120mph. Neither would hold a rifle or machine-gun, and both took time to unpack on the ground. The Central Landing Establishment was therefore tasked with designing a new series of containers. One of these successful designs was this type of Parachute Container, which was used on most of the early airborne operations of the British Army, and also for the delivery and re-supply of stores to clandestine groups such as the Maquis in France. The Container was hinged along one side and was opened, packed and unpacked in two halves. Loads could include rifles, machine-guns, ammunition, radios, and even a motorcycle.
History note
Second World War period British 'parachute container' of the type designed by the Central Landing Establishment. This particular parachute container was dropped to the Norwegian Resistance at 22.46 on 28 December 1944 at Pin Point s/n 163, near Stange varde in SE Norway, near the Swedish border, along with 15 other Containers. It was then buried in a lake at Kjelane, subsequently salvaged in 1984 and then gifted to the Imperial War Museum by the Resistance Museum, Oslo.
(1) stencilled
(2) paper label
(1)
CLE X K104
15C/201 2715C/158
7019 F.L.
(2)
3P