Warbird Information Exchange

My friend at work yesterday had a book about strange events that took place during WWII. One of the events in there just sounded too wild to be true. I wonder if anyone else out there has heard this. A C-47 loadmaster has just had the paratroopers jump when he got knocked out of the aircraft somehow. He ended up falling in through the open door of another C-47 below, and flew home in that aircraft. This sounds too wild to be true. Has anyone ever heard this or seen this book?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

The book I have is probably the same one. "Strange and Interesting Facts of WWII" or similar
title. Very thick book. The C-47 story sounds too unlikely to be true. There are some stories,
in that book and other places, of men bailing out with inoperative parachutes and surviving.
I just don't see how he could fall into the open jump door of another aircraft. But, truth can be stranger than fiction.

During the Major operations of WW2 the Jumpmaster carried a chute and was first to leave the plane. I never heard of them carrying a loadmaster. It seems redundant.

Here is a quote from the Book "Green Light" about composition of crews .


"You might be wondering: 'why did it require three squadrons of planes to fly a battalion of Parachute Artillerymen to the DZ, when the 1st Bn. 502 was conveyed by only two squadrons?' The answer is that most planes carrying Parachute Infantrymen bore sticks of 18-20 men per plane. But, because of the additional weight of 75mm pack howitzer components, artillery ammo, etc, the artillery sticks consisted of only 9 or 10 jumpers per plane. Incidentally, the jumpmaster on a plane of Artillerymen (usually an officer) jumped LAST in the stick, whereas in a Parachute Infantry stick, the jumpmaster went out the door first."

I think you're cross referencing Loadmaster with Crew Chief/Flight Engineer. The JUMPmaster was a paratrooper not air crew.

Right you are Dave !