Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 375:
Description
WWII USAAF Type A-3 Quick Attachable Chest Parachute Pack Tray, Serial No. 42-289821, Manufactured by Reliance Mfg. Co. under Contract W33-038-AC-3906, with Matching A.A.F. Form 46 Parachute Log Record Documenting Service at Randolph Field, Texas Offered here is a well-documented U.S. Army Air Forces Type A-3 Quick Attachable Chest (QAC) parachute pack tray, its olive drab canvas shell stenciled with government serial number 42-289821 and "TOP" across multiple panels. The pack is accompanied by its correctly matched A.A.F. Form 46 Parachute Log Record booklet, the serial number hand-inscribed on the cover in period ink to agree exactly with the stenciling on the pack itself – a level of matched documentation seldom encountered intact on surviving examples of this equipment. No separate published biography attaches to this piece; its story is carried entirely in the pack’s markings and the log’s handwritten entries. The Type A-3, and its later variant the A-4, were the standard chest-mounted emergency parachutes issued to USAAF aircrew whose duties demanded freedom of movement within cramped fuselage stations – turret gunners, navigators, bombardiers, and radio operators aboard B-17s, B-24s, and B-29s. Rather than wearing the bulky pack throughout flight, these men wore only a lightweight chest harness, with the parachute tray clipped nearby and ready to be snapped onto the harness rings in seconds should the aircraft be disabled. The log record traces this particular pack’s documented service through 1945, with entries for technical instruction compliance, ten-day inspections, and formal repacking performed by the Post Parachute Department at Randolph Field, Texas, then headquarters of the Air Corps Training Center, with riggers’ initials confirming the maintenance performed.
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