Each year, waves of paratroopers commemorate Operation Market Garden fought in the Netherlands in September 1944.

Operation “Market Garden” is the name of an unsuccessful Allied military operation launched during World War II and fought between Sept. 17-25, 1944, in the Netherlands. The objective of the operation was planned to be achieved through two subsidiary operations: the first one was an airborne assault to seize a series of nine key bridges that could have provided an Allied invasion route into Germany (“Market”); the second one was a ground attack (“Garden”).

Whilst the airborne and land forces managed in the liberation of the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen, they were defeated during the Battle of Arnhem in their attempt to secure the last bridge, over the Rhine.

Operation “Market Garden” saw the largest airborne operation up to that point of WWII but its failure led to 16,000 allied casualties and 13,000 German ones.

Each year, the people of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Ede and Driel commemorate mid September the commitment and dedication of the allied soldiers. During the ceremonies Dutch people respectfully honour the veterans, their fallen comrades and their relatives, who bravely fought during the Nattle of Arnhem.

Thousands of visitors attended the annual commemorations of the “Market Garden” airborne landings on the Ginkelse Heide in Ede, in the Dutch province of Gelderland. Around 15 veterans well over the age of 90 were the guests of honour at the 74rd annual commemorations, including paratroopers and pilots from Holland, Great Britain, Belgium, US and Poland.

The Airborne program started at 09.30 hrs and ends at 16.30 hrs. at Ginkel Heath. After the first Mass Drop the official commemoration started.

British parachutists, soldiers of the 11th Air Manouvre Brigade from The Netherlands, para’s from America and several NATO countries and many parachutists of the Parachute Group Holland jumped from C-130 Hercules aircraft and one Dakota.

Photographer Marco Ferrageau attended the ceremonies and had the opportunity to take the shots that you can find in this article.

Boat delivery Air Force Special Operations Command-way.

The picture in this post shows an MC-130J Commando II belonging to the 9th Special Operations Squadron airdropping a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System over the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 12, 2015.

MCADS enable special operations forces members to rapidly deploy anywhere around the world in a maritime environment: anti-pirate ops, beach assault, forces infil and exfil missions may require the use of airdropped vessels.

Produced by Airborne Systems, the MCADS is the only system capable of delivering large RIBs by parachute-dropping them into the water. It is made of the PRIBAD and PURIBAD airdrop platforms, attached to an extractor parachute used to pull the load from the aircraft cargo bay.

The boat and platform separate immediately after leaving the aircraft and both descend to the water under their own parachutes. The Special Forces parachute from the aircraft following the load, and land near the ready-for-use boat in the water.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

 

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U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III tactical airlifters pyrotechnic show

Filmed near Anchorage as part of Large Package Week, formerly known as Jump Week the video shows U.S. C-17 cargo planes during a night airdrop mission.

Noteworthy, the airplanes released the Globemasters released flares, high-temperature heat sources used to mislead surface-to-air or air-to-air missile’s heat-seeking targeting systems, creating the pyrotechnic visual effect you can see behind each plane.

Such countermeasures are against MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) and IR guided surface-to-air missiles.

C-17s have been involved in night airdrop missions over Iraq.

H/T Matt Fanning for sending the link over

 

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Airdrops from military cargo planes are not always performed at high altitude, as the one showed in the spectacular video posted a few days ago.

LAPES (Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System) enables cargo aircraft to quickly deploy large cargo without the need to land and take off, which would expose the plane to enemy fire. The technique is also used to deliver those heavy loads that could not be delivered from high altitude with a direct parachute descent.

However, since LAPS involves a drop sequence at low altitude it implies a heightened risk as there is little margin for pilot error.

As the following video shows.

It was taken on Jul. 1, 1987, 26 years today, when a U.S. C-130E crashed while performing a LAPES demo at the Sicily Drop Zone, on Ft. Bragg during a Capabilities exercise (CAPEX).

Pilot pulled up too late and after deploying M551 Sheridan tank, hit treeline, burned, killing three on board, one soldier on the ground, and injuring two crew.

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That’s a really interesting video.

It shows a pallet being air dropped from a French Air Force C-160 Transal over Mali.

Have you ever seen an airdrop from the pallet’s point of view?

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