Heavy Drops

[Col Tigwell]

Yes there is a lot more to the dropping of vehicles and supplies, than shoving it on a platform and letting it rip.

You have three problems to overcome.

1. Whilst the load is being extracted, that it does not want to swing over upside down, so that it does not land on the ground without the platform contacting first.

2. The next problem is to get the right amount of honeycomb material under the axles. If you look closely at the michican, the front axle is closer to the platform, than the other axles. This is done to ensure the impact is spread gently through the length of the vehicle, or you end up bending something.

We had a lot of problems down here, with LWB Land Rovers, they would always bend their chassis until we got the impact material, right.

3. If you put in too much material, the load becomes top heavy, and so becomes instable.

Good air depatchers know just the right way to set the load up, I would say judging on their lack of success they were packed by reservists, who just did not have the experience.

Regards

Col'