Does one assume that the armored track became inoperable? Does one also assume that this type of early release is how you learn what not to do again?
"Inoperable" is a good word, Kathy. The Sheridan buried itself vertically up to the turret. The Gun tube bent at an odd angle. Pieces of racks and bogies were found up to 100 yards away.
Bottom line: When LAPES its a thing of beauty. When it doesn't, it's a disaster.
The AF and Army had also once kicked around the idea of putting a thick cardboard bunker around a cago pallet. Putting in red nylon troop seats and delivering soldiers direactly to the battlefront via LAPES.
Kinda like Glider Troops in WWII. Without the glider!
Fortunately, the experiments with Crash Test Dummies instead of real live soldiers were determined "Marginal" at best. The idea was appropriately Round Filed when two Troop Pallets landed badly. Cartwheeled and came to rest upside down.
The C-141 MedEvacs are awesome, Kathy. Two tall stanchions from floor to ceiling. Clamps. Handing straps with clamps outside the stanchions. A system much used in Vietnam and beyond. Each "Bay" of stanchions, clamps and straps can handle up to eight litter patients each.
Eight patient bays can be put all the way down the center of the plane. And smaller three patient bays can be installed at places along both bulkheads (walls) Plumbing for O2 runs throughout the plane. If a soldier is put on a MedEvac 141, he or she's stablized enough to travel to Germany.
Jack.