During the landing in Normandy the American paratroopers had polyamide, an extra weapon

During the Second World War and the use of military aviation had made great strides compared to war previous, not only for the maneuverability of the new bombers and raiders, but also for the considerable distance they could cover in the operational phases.

In addition, a new discipline was introduced, that of paratroopers , who could infiltrate behind enemy lines for sabotage, rescue or logistics, to the benefit of the infantry bridgeheads.

The parachutes, at the beginning, were normally made of natural silk which came from China but, after the Japanese invasion of the 7 July 1937, the Americans had to find new material for their parachutes.

This is how they asked Du Pont , a chemical company of great importance in the United States, to find a solution to the problem, so that the army could make a million new parachutes for D-DAY, the invasion of Europe.

Du-Pont supplied a new polymer, polyamide 6 and 12 with which the new parachutes were made, immediately creating a technical superiority of the product compared to that made in natural silk.

The leaders of the American army immediately realized that the parachute made with the PA was much more robust to tears and lacerations, compared to silk, which could easily happen during landings.

In addition, the dynamic air containment capacity was better , avoiding the risk of breaking the sails in flight, but not only, during the jumps in bad weather, the parachute made with polyamide did not fill with water, weighing down the glider when it came to navigating in flight and collecting it on landing.

It was also possible that during the descent on the battlefield the parachute could be hit by bullets, but the small punctures did not tear the fabric, allowing the parachutist to land on the ground.

The paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division, with the new parachutes in PA , were also employed in North Africa, in April of 1943, under the command of General Ridgway, and subsequently on 9 July of the same year they landed in Sicily and on 13 September 1943 in Salerno in Italy.

The effectiveness of American paratroopers equipped with PA sails was also noted by the German commanders, who nicknamed them "the devils with swollen pants" as a sign of respect for their skills and technical superiority.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.