Item Description
Original Items: Only One Grouping Available. Now this is an incredible and large grouping! The grouping is all attributed to ODA-10 team member Sergeant Major George Beitzel, a former MACV-SOG operative during the Vietnam War. The items in this group span from late war to post war. The grouping is centered around the incredible “Delta Black” jumpsuit with HALO parachute and a beautiful early Delta Pro-Tec bump helmet. While we have not been able to locate service information for Beitzel, the grouping comes with a large box filled with a ton of documents to help aid in the research process.
High-altitude military parachuting, or military free fall (MFF), is a method of delivering military personnel, military equipment, and other military supplies from a transport aircraft at a high altitude via free-fall parachute insertion. Two techniques are used: HALO (high altitude – low opening, often called a HALO jump) and HAHO (high altitude – high opening).
In the HALO technique, the parachutist opens the parachute at a low altitude after free-falling for a period of time, while in the HAHO technique, the parachutist opens the parachute at a high altitude just a few seconds after jumping from the aircraft.
Although HALO techniques were first developed in the 1960s for military use, in recent years HALO parachute designs have been more widely used in non-military applications, including as a form of skydiving.
In military operations, HALO is also used for delivering equipment, supplies, or personnel, while HAHO is generally used exclusively for personnel. In typical HALO/HAHO insertions the troops jump from altitudes between 15,000 and 35,000 feet (4,600 and 10,700 m). Military parachutists will often reach a terminal velocity of 126 mph (203 km/h), allowing for a jump time under two minutes.
The items in this lot:
- ODA-10 Black Jumpsuit: The jumpsuit is in great condition and retains both name tags and the American flag patch on the left shoulder.
- MC-3 Freefall Parachute System With Reserve (Purchased by Beitzel From Friend): The MC-3 canopy assembly is a 24-foot MFF back-type parachute that deploys manually or automatically. The canopy is aerodynamically designed with 17 vents in the rear and 4 turn slots on each side. The turn slots are louvers of the canopy material and protrude above the normal canopy curvature. Control lines, ending in toggles located on the rear of the front risers, are attached to the turn slots. Manipulation of these toggles controls the volume and direction of airflow through the turn slots, allowing variation in the direction, forward speed, and rate of descent of the canopy.
- Green Pro-Tec Bump Helmet: The primary reason listed for Special Operation soldiers to use the Pro-Tec and other lightweight sport helmets is for bump protection during close quarters combat situations (like the Battle of Mogadishu) when the risk of head injury is greater than the OPFOR's ability to make headshots. The helmet does show faithful wear and use but is otherwise in fantastic condition.
- Uniform Items: The uniform items present are all Vietnam War era into the 1980s. They are in wonderful condition and even retains devices, one of which is the infamous “dive bubble” on the ERDL blouse. The diver insignia (also known as "diver badges") are qualification badges of the uniformed services of the United States which are awarded to servicemen qualified as divers. Originally, the diver insignia was a cloth patch decoration worn by United States Navy divers in the upper-portion of the enlisted service uniform's left sleeve during the first part of World War II, when the rating insignia was worn on the right sleeve. When enlisted rating insignia were shifted to the left sleeve in late World War II, the patch shifted to the upper right sleeve. The diving patch was created during World War II, and became a breast insignia in the late 1960s.
This is an incredible grouping with fantastic research opportunities. This is an iconic grouping and it comes more than ready for further research and display.
The origins of the HALO technique date back to 1960 when the United States Air Force began conducting experiments that followed earlier work by Colonel John Stapp in the late 1940s[4] through early 1950s on survivability for pilots ejecting at high altitude. Stapp, a research biophysicist and medical doctor, used himself in rocket sled tests to study the effects of very high g-forces. Stapp also solved many of the problems of high-altitude flight in his earliest work for the U.S. Air Force and subjected himself to exposure to altitudes of up to 45,000 feet (14,000 m). He later helped develop pressure suits and ejection seats, which have been used in jets ever since. As part of the experiments, on August 16, 1960, Colonel Joseph Kittinger performed the first high-altitude jump at 19.5 miles (31.4 km) above the Earth's surface. Kittinger's friend and United States Naval Parachute Test Jumper Joe Crotwell was also among the consultants and test jumpers of the original program. The first time the technique was used for combat was during the Vietnam War in Laos by members of MACV-SOG Recon Team Florida. SEAL Teams of the United States Navy expanded the HALO technique to include delivery of boats and other large items.
The technique is used to airdrop supplies, equipment, or personnel at high altitudes, where aircraft can fly above surface-to-air missile (SAM) engagement levels through enemy skies without posing a threat to the transport or load. In the event that anti-aircraft cannons are active near the drop zone, the HALO technique also minimizes the parachutist's exposure to flak.
For military cargo airdrops, the rigged load is cut free and rolls out of the plane as a result of gravity. The load then proceeds to fall under canopy to a designated drop zone.
In a typical HALO exercise, the parachutist will jump from the aircraft, free-fall for a period of time at terminal velocity, and open his parachute at an altitude as low as 3,000 feet (910 m) AGL depending on the mission. The combination of high downward speed, minimal forward airspeed, and the use of only small amounts of metal helps to defeat radar and reduces the amount of time a parachute might be visible to ground observers, enabling a stealthy insertion.
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