Britain's Air Defences 1939–45

The Parachute-and-Cable System

Launched vertically into the path of low-flying enemy aircraft, this unconventional weapon was fired in nine-round salvoes from a row of launchers on the ground. The weapon comprised a 480ft length of steel cable suspended from a parachute which opened automatically when the rocket reached the top of its climb at about 600ft. When an aircraft struck the cable and started to carry it forwards, the shock of the impact caused the opening of a second drag parachute attached to the bottom end of the cable. If the contraption snagged on the winig or any other part of an aircraft, the combined drag from the two parachutes imposed a violent deceleration that was usually sufficent to cause the machine to stall and fall out of the sky in an uncontrollable dive.