High-Speed Russian VDV Airborne: Air-Mech Paras Jump with Drogues

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You probably trained while they were still using C/119’s, they were alot of fun.

The Dollar-nineteen was known as the *vomit comet* to those of us who rode in it. Jumping out of it was FAR preferable to staying around for the landing.

I always thought the Luftwaffe C160 Transalls were pretty much the best jump plane in the business, and never much cared for the C141 in its original short version. I've not jumped a C17, but I've ridden in them, and if I can figure out some excuse, I might manage to get jump # 389 in one....

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Also, we were old that the Finns painted exposed rocks White so the Russkies would drop their guys there. It sounded pretty much like BS to me.

I can tell you that when I visited Finland for the 50th anniversary of the 1939-1940 talvisota Winter War that the Russians called the *White Death* I never heard of any large scale paratroop drops. I did however meet some former Finn combat engineers who, having noted a Soviet fondness for using frozen lakes as drop zones for supplies and ammo/food drops, mined the lakeside shores. Sometimes they managed to drop the desperately needed equipment to the bottom, sometimes they got lucky and also got the truck crews going out to retrieve it. Either way, they forced the next resupply effort to travel by road, where they could be ambushed, cut up into mottis and the equipment then used by the Finns.