Yes dear yellowmaster,
I am tryin to remember specialized parachutes that I last worked on 27 years ago. My logbooks contain few details. Back during the early 1990s - immediately after the Berlin Wall fell, a bewildering array of communist-surplus warbirds were imported to the USA ... so many that the FAA imposed a short-term ban until they could catch up with applications. Most were registered in the Experimental/Exhibition/Restricted category.
Since the FAA banned civilians from owning "live" ejection seats, all the explosive cartridges were removed, except for a few automatic activation devices (e.g. Soviet K.A.P.3)
We also saw a wild variety of Cold War-surplus warbirds from friendlier nations like: New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Yugoslavia, etc.
As best as I cant guess, Folland licensed at least two different back-type emergency parachutes from SAAB. They were sewn by Irvin or G.Q. in the U.K. Harnesses, suspension lines and canopies were made of the usual nylon with a mixture of British and American hardware. But their containers were still made of cotton ... well into the 1950s!!!!
The first Swedish pattern was a conventional back-type container with a 3-pin ripcord containing a conventional round parachute. The ripcord could also be pulled by a barometric/timer automatic activation device that was initiated by a static-line. I repacked a couple of the first generation, but forget whether they arrived from South Africa (Aermachi Impala) or Yugoslavia (Sokol Galeb).
The second was far more complex. While it used the same canopy, AAD and 3-pin ripcord, it added a stabilizing drogue in the same volume. The main container was shortened slightly with the drogue compartment jammed on top. The drogue compartment was held closed by 1 o2 ripcord pins, but I forget how they were pulled. To increase volume for the drogue, the outboard edges intruded a bit into the top corners of the main container. The drogue and apron were attached with spiral "nautilus" drogue releases - that I have never seen before or since. These spiral drogue releases were attached to the upper corners of the container frame. The first stage of AAD operation was to pull nautilus release pins side-ways (inboard. Pulling DR pins released it to pull out the canopy at about the same time as the AAD also pulled ripcord pins.
As an aside, I also repacked a few parachutes for SAAB Draken jet fighters flown by the National Test Pilots' School (Mojave, California). They used the Martin-Baker Ejection Unit "horseshoe" pattern container that wrapped around the top of the mortar. They were held closed by a pair of ripcord pins. The pilot-chute was "soft" with the spring in a separate cotton bag but was not attached to the pilot-chute or bridle.
