Everyone should have a Rupert -- He never complains, doesn't eat much and is GREAT with the local Kids !! I never really thought I'd find one but , 2 years ago .. I GOT HIM !! He's in great condition with the original chute still packed up.
Here's some info about "Rupert" (for those who've never met him)--
The British carried out the most famous of all paradummy missions during the early hours of D-Day June 5/6th, 1944. The paradummy operation was code-named "Titanic" and involved dropping hundreds of paradummies along the French coast to confuse and deceive the Germans as to where the actual Allied Airborne drops would occur.
Six brave SAS men jumped along with the paradummies to make a lot of noise on the ground, play combat recordings, make small attacks on German troops (like couriers) and generally help make the landings appear real to the Germans. The SAS men were Lt. Fowles, TPR. Hurst, TPR. Merryweather, Lt. Poole, TPR. Dawson, and TPR. Saunders. Days after the operation only two of these six men had returned to friendly lines. The other five were likely killed or captured but it is possible some survived so this web site is still trying to research their exact fate. Titanic is surely one of the best kept secrets of WWII involving sheer bravery amongst Allied Special Operations soldiers, out there on their own behind enemy lines.
The Titanic operation worked well and actually caused a good number of German troops to spread out away from the real landing areas, and also caused much confusion and doubt amongst German commanders who were then completely unsure if there was in fact an attack happening or not. Titanic is credited with surely reducing many Allied casualties as a result.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
There are many surviving examples of original British D-Day paradummies so physical details are available. These dummies, which have come to be known as "Ruperts" (as opposed to the American "Oscars") were made of simple stuffed burlap sack cloth. They were filled with sand, straw, or wood shavings and were attached to small scale sized parachutes. They were small, only about 3 feet tall, and could be dressed in actual small uniforms.
A few original D-Day Ruperts, which were actually dropped during Operation Titanic, can be found these days in war museums in the U.S. and in Europe and in the hands of a few lucky private collectors. There was also several left over vintage crates of these paradummies found in storage at an old English airfield in the 1980's. These unissued, mint condition original Rupert paradummies, are often found at collector's shows and auction web sites. They are originals from the era, but were never actually dropped during the war.
http://home.att.net/~1.elliott/parat...storysite.html
There's an extra flap sewn in near each end so once you fill his Arms and Legs with sand , you turn down the flap and then tie the rope ..the flap holds the sand in place
" RUPERT " The Paradummy, WW2 Decoy Paratrooper
Linear Mode
