Photo: U.S. Army/Paolo Bovo
Under the right circumstances, seeing an image such as the one shown in the main photo of this piece could cause the squeamish among us to become uneasy. But there’s no need for that. Yes, humans seem to be dangling from an airplane, but they do it on purpose and are not actually dangling.
Paratroopers have been among us ever since the time the world’s militaries figured it is possible to jump from an airplane and survive, provided you have the right gear on. Why would they ask soldiers to do this? Surprise, of course, as there’s nothing better suited to throw troops off-balance than an enemy force attacking from behind, after arriving there from the sky.
The advent of paratrooper use on a large scale occurred shortly before during the Second World War, in Germany, but to be fair to the man, Benjamin Franklin first thought of dropping people from balloons way back in the 1700s.
But that’s ancient history, and now we have paratroopers. Sure, they are no longer falling from the sky by the tens of thousands, like they did during the war, but they do still practice, and that involves them jumping from perfectly fine aircraft.
The image you’re looking at here shows a U.S. Air Force (USAF) C-130 Hercules. It was shot from underneath with a camera, as it flew over a part of Slovenia, over in Europe, at the beginning of September.
The plane, one of the long time workhorses of the USAF, was taking part in the Rock Klescman exercise at the Cerklje Drop Zone, one that called for paratroopers to be dropped from the air for training purposes. And that’s exactly what we’re witnessing here, and not some helpless humans being discarded from the transport plane.
As for the Hercules, the Lockheed machine has been around for close to seven decades. It is presently made in four main configurations, being used for cargo or troop transport, refueling ops, and even assault.
The advent of paratrooper use on a large scale occurred shortly before during the Second World War, in Germany, but to be fair to the man, Benjamin Franklin first thought of dropping people from balloons way back in the 1700s.
But that’s ancient history, and now we have paratroopers. Sure, they are no longer falling from the sky by the tens of thousands, like they did during the war, but they do still practice, and that involves them jumping from perfectly fine aircraft.
The image you’re looking at here shows a U.S. Air Force (USAF) C-130 Hercules. It was shot from underneath with a camera, as it flew over a part of Slovenia, over in Europe, at the beginning of September.
The plane, one of the long time workhorses of the USAF, was taking part in the Rock Klescman exercise at the Cerklje Drop Zone, one that called for paratroopers to be dropped from the air for training purposes. And that’s exactly what we’re witnessing here, and not some helpless humans being discarded from the transport plane.
As for the Hercules, the Lockheed machine has been around for close to seven decades. It is presently made in four main configurations, being used for cargo or troop transport, refueling ops, and even assault.
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