J10850 (IJA) TYPE 97 SEAT PACK PARACHUTE & TYPE 92 STORAGE BAG. A packed parachute and storage bag. The beige canvas army parachute storage bag (which would have been orange in color prior to 1942) has 17 3/4" x 15" stiffening boards within each of its canvas faces, and its 10" wide bottom has two rectangular stiffening boards within it. Its un-stiffened canvas sides separate 8" up from their bases into two 5 1/2" wide panels which continue along the bag’s top edges where three metal and alloy snap buttons form a closure. A webbed canvas carrying handle proceeds from the seam to the base of each face. To one face of the storage bag are sewn two white cotton tags, the uppermost being 5" x 2 1/4", and that beneath it 3 5/8" x 1 3/4". The larger tag is divided into four horizontal rows, with a vertical line forming left and right columns. The top left section has the kanji characters for "type" and "model" within it, followed, to the top right, with characters indicating that the parachute is a "92 model." This model was used specifically by paratroopers and not by pilots or flight crew. The row beneath gives the manufacture number, "777." The left column beneath that features characters indicating the manufacturing year, month and day, followed, to the right, by "17.7.20," for the twentieth of July in the seventeenth year of Showa, or 1942. The name of the manufacturer is to the bottom row. The lower tag has a column with three kanji characters arranged vertically to it to the left, and three rows are to the right, to the top of which is a horizontal series of inkstamped kanji. The seams have separated along the exterior top of both faces, revealing the stiffening boards within. Small, torn separations may also be seen along the seams of all of the base corners. Both of the beige carrying handles originally had 9 1/2" of their lower sections stitched to each face, but are presently connected only at their bases. Moderate age soiling, with some staining, and several picks to the material, particularly to the base and sides, may also be seen. The white silk parachute is packed in a dark green canvas bag with orange trim along its seams. Originally attached to a removable harness, it served as a seat cushion as well as a parachute, and could remain in the aircraft bucket seat while the pilot was otherwise occupied. Four hook-ended bungee cords are connected at one end to what would have been the seat position of the bag, run underneath it and through a carrying handle, and up the front over a flap where they are connected at their other ends near its top. Between the cords near the base of the bag is a 3 3/4" x 1 5/8" white cotton tag, which repeats the divisions and most of the kanji found on the similar tag to the storage bag, but with a "97 model" indication, a different manufacturer’s number, and a "19.7.30" date, for the thirtieth of July in the nineteenth year of Showa, or 1944. Most single-seat Japanese aircraft pilots used this model 97 seat pack parachute, which was manually deployed, and opened in 2 1/2 seconds. A star within a circle, indicating its use by the army, is inkstamped to the orange trim alongside the aforementioned tag. An orange cord is elaborately bound between metal "O" rings the top of the forward flap and the top of the seat portion. Short straps, each fed through a large metal friction clip, are to either side of the orange cord, with one also having a metal spring cable sewn to it. A 2 1/2" x 3" paper card with a protective celluloid cover is within an orange-trimmed pocket to the center of the seat portion. One side of the card has a heading to its top with inkstamped kanji and a serial number, and both sides are otherwise divided into eight rows in two columns with the kanji characters for year, month and day printed to the left column, and the right column left blank. Beneath the heading is inkstamped in red, within a horizontal rectangle, the characters for "97 model." An indecipherable inkstamp, also in red but in the form of a vertical oval, is to the right of the aforementioned. This card was used to record each time the parachute was re-packed; in this case only once, as the upper left row has "19.9.3" inkstamped alongside the year, month, and day characters, indicating the third of September in the nineteenth year of Showa, or 1944. Four kanji characters are inkstamped to the column to the right of it. No inkstamps are to the reverse of the card. Although the cover has yellowed, the card is unmarred. Light age soiling is evident to the parachute bag, but there are no stains, tears or repairs evident.

GRADE ***3/4                             PRICE $1,000.00

To Order this item, please use one of the two e-mail addresses below to contact us. Please make sure to quote the item number in your e-mail

-E-Mail Address pawmac@nbnet.nb.ca  Or  guild@nb.aibn.com

To return to the main page please CLICK below