Fallschirmjäger Drop Pod - The Personenabwurfgerät

[rocketmantan]

So, this probably has to be one of the most interesting (if not downright absurd) gadgets produced by the Heer during the Second World War...

So while you would have thought that drop-pods were solely in the realm of science fiction (a la Starship Troopers, WH40k, or Halo), apparently they existed in real life: in the form of the Personenabwurfgerät.

Essentially a giant plywood shell large enough to hold up to three people, these PAGs were the DFS's solution to the inherent scattering mass-dropped FSJ units experienced. By inserting small three-man fireteams in a single vehicle, the need for an RV-point was all but eliminated. Presumably this would have been used for more covert operations, as I can't imagine these things being used for mass invasions without being shot down by the dozen.

Ohyeah, and it gets even more ridiculous: these things were designed to be mounted on external hardpoints just like a fuel-tank. One has to wonder what it would have been like to be deployed in one of those things...at least there was a telephone connection between the pod and the mothership so you could play twenty-questions or something to pass the time...

Here's the main site I used for reference. It's in German and just has oodles of info about the device if you can speak the language. If not, it has some pretty enlightening pictures concerning the device, as well as postwar photos of a captured amphibious variant of the PAG:
Agententransport - Das DFS-Personen-Absetzger


Anyways, yes, this is the subject of my latest model. It's...not exactly the most complex model ever, though I did try to greeble it as much as possible while, y'know, retaining some semblance of historical accuracy...after all, the thing's basically a plywood external fuel tank with a human-sized hatch on one side...so I took some liberties by way of markings and colors, since no extant examples of the PAG survive. I marked the drop pod as if it were an aircraft in and of itself (which, I suppose it kind of is), notably with the Geschwaderkennung of KG 200, the Luftwaffe's special operations unit. I also drew in your typical Luftwaffe first-aid hatch and decided to (slightly) exaggerate the hardpoint-mounting rail.

Have some pictures!
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[cmdr199212]

I haven't ever even heard of this.. I love it! Great looking model, and great thoughts for the markings!

[CMDRTED]

I think I read somewhere that stukas were sometimes used as the delivery vehicle. Imagine if the pilot confused drop vehicle with dive bomb sortie!

[JohnM]

Never heard of these before, but as an ex-para I can say that you wouldn't have got me in one.

Incidentally, opening the website with Chrome browser, it translates to English fairly well. Slightly amusing the way they keep referring to people being discontinued, as against eliminated. But then again, have YOU ever tried to translate from German? It is indeed a colourful language.

[at6]

Interesting model. I like it. Do you plan on making it available?

[Mike1158]

As a non ex para but having made the qualification for paramedic, I would not get in one either, even without claustrophobia .............

[Sakrison]

German mule-headedness and a willingness to suspend disbelief can sometimes look like genius -- or sometimes not.