Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 374:
Description
Scarce WWII Type A-5 Airborne Delivery Container S. WWII U.S. Army Airborne Type A-5 Aerial Delivery Container Set – Stenciled Left and Right End Covers, Uncut Inner Felt-Lined Liner Roll, and Lite Mfg. Co. 12" x 12" Drop Shock Pad under Contract AF 33(038)27339 Offered here is a scarce, largely complete configuration of the Type A-5 Aerial Delivery Container, the World War II airborne rigging system developed to drop ammunition, small arms, and heavy equipment to parachute troops from transport aircraft such as the C-47 Skytrain. The lot retains both stenciled end covers, the long uncut inner felt-lined liner roll that wrapped the packed load, and a separate padded shock pad. Developed to solve one of the central logistical problems of airborne warfare – getting heavy supplies to paratroopers intact after a parachute descent – the A-5 system used padded end covers and a felt-and-canvas inner wrap to cushion a packed munitions crate or weapons bundle against the shock of landing, with cotton webbing, friction buckles, and steel D-rings to close and secure the assembly for the drop. The separate square shock pad, stenciled with its Quartermaster stock number and contract data, was intended to further absorb impact at the point of contact with the ground. Complete groupings of A-5 hardware such as this one illustrate, more fully than an isolated end cover, the engineering behind resupply drops that kept airborne divisions fighting once they were on the ground in Normandy, Holland, and beyond. The olive-drab duck left end cover is clearly stenciled with its nomenclature for use as a Type A-5 aerial delivery container component.
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