A storepedo, or alternately storpedo, is a cylindrical storage container with an attached parachute.{{Cite web, url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/393463, title=Model - Storpedo Stores Container, website=Museums Victoria Collections, access-date=2018-05-07 Resupplying troops in the jungle by air drop during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

was proving problematic. Regular parachutes were costly in both money and material. Drops without parachutes risked loss of the materials due to the impact. The Australian Inventions Directorate in headed by Sir Laurence Hartnett tasked the Ordnance Production Directorate to produce a solution. G.W Griffiths, on a

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with the directorate, came up with the answer. to examine the problem. A shock absorbent heavy-gauge wire netting container to absorb the impact. Griffiths named this an 'Aeropak'. The design also allows for a parachute to be attached to slow the descent. The design was refined by Morris & Walker Pty Ltd of

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. The printing firm added a three foot cardboard cylinder to carry 250lbs. A hessian parachute was also added. The hollow nose cone is hollow which also takes a proportion on the impact. The Storpedo was test dropped from a

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aircraft at

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New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

in 1944. The Storepedo was used by Australian and US forces in the South-West Pacific. Small aircraft, for example the CAC Wirraway, could carry the container. Use of smaller aircraft resulted in greater accuracy of the drops. The Storpedo was used to supply liberated

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

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following the 1945 surrender of Japan. After the war, the Storpedo was used to supply victims of flooding in

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. The names on the

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are E.R. Campbell, K.M. Frewin, F.W. Lennox and R.P. Morris.

External links

State Library of South Australia - Photograph of a Storepedo being fitted to an aircraft

Australian War Memorial
- Williamtown, NSW. 1954-11-23. Storepedos just after release from a De Havilland

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Aircraft of No. 2 Operational Training Unit RAAF Williamtown. (Donor: R.C. Cresswell)
Australian War Memorial
- Members of 121 Supply Depot Platoon,

Australian Army Service Corps The Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) was a corps within the Australian Army. Formed on 1 July 1903, in the aftermath of the Federation of Australia, it was initially known as the Australian Army Service Corps (AASC) and subsumed the f ...

hold a storepedo in readiness for a dropping - Bougainville - 12 March 1945

References

World War II military equipment of Australia Australian inventions