Napier Railton racing car with braking parachute

May 05, 1954 - John Cobb's racing car used in demonstration of retractable aircraft brake parachute: Early in 1951, the GQ Parachute Company began work on a scheme to dispense with the necessity for jettisoning an aircraft braking parachute at the end of the landing run. A storage system was devised by which the parachute could be automatically repacked ready for the next operation. It was decided that the parachute should be stowed in a telescopic cylinder, the rear and outer part of the cylinder being arranged to slide forwards over the inner and forward part at the same time as the canopy was ejected rearwards by a piston engergised by a large coil spring. To retract the parachute it is only necessary to switch on the electric winch motor, the attachment strop and parachute canopy. Seeing its possibilities as a test vehicle for aircraft brake parachutes, the GC Parachute company purchased the late John Cobb's record-breaking Napier Railton racing car of 450 hp. Photo shows a head-on view of the late John Cobb's racing car driven by Sir Raymond Quilter at high speed releasing the braking parachute during a demonstration at Dunsfold Aerodome, near Guildford today

Restrictions Only for United Kingdom

Aerodome Arranged Attachment Automatically Brake Braking Canopy Cobb Cobbs Coil Cylinder Decided Devised Dispense Driven Dunsfold Ejected Forwards Guildford Napier Necessary Necessity Parachute Parachutes Piston Possibilities Purchased Quilter Railton Releases Retract Retractable Scheme Seeing Stowed Strop Switch Telescopic Winch

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > KEY