"New" UT-15 manual

[councilman24 37]

I mentioned before that I had a UT-15 given to me earlier this year. I didn't get it in the air this year but did get some help with original line configuration. Now I have a manual. I think its series 5 and my UT-15 is series 2 but still all good. Came off ebay from the Ukraine.

Attached are scans of the photos and data panel that came with the canopy and the cover of the new to me Manual from 1976. Story that came with the canopy was that a member of the US Army Parachute Team traded for it in the 60's. They couldn't be caught with Soviet equip so they cut out the data panel and patched the hole, but kept the data panel. (see scan) Anybody from the Knights able to confirm trip to USSR or story? Can help with contact to any 1960's Knight still with us?

edit Finally found list of World Parachuting Championships. If in mid 60's may have been trade with USSR jumpers but not in USSR.

Number, Year, Country, # of Countries Participating

2 1954 France 8
3 1956 Moscow, Russia 10
4 1958 Czechoslovakia
Rules 14
5 1960 Sophia, Bulgaria 12
6 1962 Orange, MA USA 26
7 1964 Leutkirch, West Germany 29
8 1966 Leipzig, Germany ?
9 1968 Graz, Austria 26
10 1970 Bled, Yugoslavia ?
11 1972 Tahlequah, OK USA 31

Photos in scan came with canopy and are decades old. It is on US risers and has been tied off shortlined but all the line is still there. Hope to restore line configuration (supposedly really sensitive to it) and get it in the air.

But, can anybody translate the cover for me? I imagine I can come close just guessing. Really need someone to translate entire manual but hope to find that locally. Or a very bored volunteer to work with scans? Pages come apart and can be scanned easily.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[JerryBaumchen 1,385]

Hi Terry,

Quote

traded for it in the 60's

Since it is a 'copy' of a ParaCommander & that the P/C came on the market in the early summer of '64, I doubt that it was the 60's. Unless it was the very late 60's. I have some memory of the UT-15 as being in competition about 1970-71 era.

An old friend was on the 7th Army Team in Germany during 1969-71 and he jumped one at a competition in Europe somewhere.

Hope someone else can add to the info on the canopy.

Jerry Baumchen

[councilman24 37]

Hi Jerry,

Well, 60's still works. The UT-15 may have been a copy of the Para-commander but it's not a very faithful one. The red front in the photos above is something like 4oz urethane coated inflatable boat cloth. The stuff is stiff, heavy and non porous. Then Pioneer's Russian PC out in 1972 was a copy of it, according to Gary Lewis. But Pioneer didn't use the non-porous fabric on the front.

Jim Hayhurst on round accuracy canopies.

"

"A Brief History of Accuracy Parachutes"

© 1996, by James Hayhurst

In 1971, sophisticated round parachutes dominated the precision accuracy event. The new ram air inflated "square" parachutes were an unproven novelty. It was an exciting time for the sport, an historic era in which new technology lowered scores by two orders of magnitude over a five year period.

In 1971 there were three competitive round parachutes: the Pioneer "Competition" Para Commander, the French Pappion, made by EFA, and the Russian UT 15. The battle between the Competition P.C. and the Pappion was fierce. Their performance was very close, and they enjoyed similar jumper loyalty and market share.

But the UT 15 was actually the superior canopy, it had a better top speed, better glide, crisper turns, and sank better than the Pap or the P.C. However, it was almost impossible to get one in the west, with rigid cold war trade embargoes between the Soviet Union/Eastern Block countries and the west."

But I wonder if mine isn't a 1974 with 74 as the first two numbers of the serial number. The new manual I have has a table comparing the series 2 (mine) and series 5 and came out in 1976. I don't decipher any mention of series 3 and 4. 1974 Style and Accuracy World Championships were in Hungary, a prime place for a trade.

BTW sport clubs in former Soviet state and Russia apparently still use UT-15's, new from the factory. The rigger from the Ukraine I know said I could always call one of the clubs over there and ask about it.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[councilman24 37]

Interesting what you find looking for other stuff. Attached is an image from the active website of a Ukranian Dropzone. (along with lots of ram air photos) Other photo show belly mount gear on a young woman hanging in a training harness and picking up a canopy, so not necessarily reenactor stuff. Uses square fabric pieces but unlike the T-11 still turns it into a round canopy. Can't read a word. Figured out Tandem and that's about it.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[JerryBaumchen 1,385]

Hi Terry,

Quote

Interesting what you find . . .

I was on a dz in Poland in 2000. They had a mix of Russian and US gear; with the Russian being about 2/3's of the gear.

I took some photos, but no longer have them.

My rememberance is that the Russian gear was an attempt to copy US gear. But the workmanship was very poor. It looked as if the various pieces of the container had been taken from containers of various sizes and then sewn into one.

Jerry Baumchen

[rmarshall234 14]

We have a Russian mechanic at the airport, I'll ask him to translate the first page of the manual for you. Vladimir is an ex skydiving instructor as well, and still has connections back home. I'll check with him next week and see what he says.

[rmarshall234 14]

The only thing Vladimir had to offer up is pretty much what's been printed here already. Said the workmanship was not very good, very stiff materials used in some areas of the construction, and that the Openings were so hard they often caused neck and back injuries. Suggested not jumping the thing...

[pchapman 279]

Fair enough, I guess openings can be snappy, but at least we don't have to jump them all day long or take them to terminal!

A snippet I have translated from a manual does say "categorically forbidden for the parachutist to turn his head (up) at the moment of inflation, in order to prevent trauma". Okay...

I don't have a translated packing manual, but I can offer the rough notes I took when I learned to pack my UT-15 rig.

I had forgotten that I had specific UT-15 notes that I could share! ... although they do include a few "I think??..." statements, so there are no guarantees.

I would be interested in getting a copy of your Russian manual, councilman, if you have or get it all scanned or photographed. AI had found a few drawings from the manual online, but even a full set of them might add a little to understanding it more.

[gb1 3]

Terry, I should have known you would have gone this far with this project. I will squeeze the donor for more history on that canopy. I am impressed.

[councilman24 37]

You need to come over and help me restore the lines.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[Droopey12 0]

any updates about it?