UNUSED UNISSUED WW2 BRITISH AIRBORNE D DAY DUMMY PARATROOPER

OFFICIALLY KNOWN AS CAMOUFLAGE DEVICE NUMBER 15, THIS ONE MISSED D DAY AND WAS NEVER ISSUED..STILL HAS STORE LABEL ATTATCHED TO PARACHUTE.PROBABLY THE ONLY ONE YOU WILL SEE ON YOUTUBE . Atotal of 537 dummy paratroopers were dropped over Normandy in the three phase Operation "Titanic" of June 5/6,7/8,9/10 1944,a series of operations intended to draw the German forces away from real parachute drops. On those nights 22 Stirling III Bombers of Numbers 90 and 149 Squadrons and 8 Halifax B MkII Bombers of Number 138 Squadron, and 4 halifax B MkIV Bombers of Number 161 Squadron dropped 50 dummies North of the Seine,with the intention of keeping enemy forces North of the Seine and drawing enemy reserves South of the Seine to the North: 50 dummies were dropped in the area of Bois De Villers to delay local enemy reserves East of the River Dives from moving Westward. On these occasions elements of the British and French SAS were also dropped with orders to "create as much noise as possible" to further confuse the Germans. 50 dummies were dropped at Matlot and at a wood North of Baron at the time as British 6th Airborne Division to draw a proportion of local counter attack troops to the South West of Caen: 200 dummies were dropped in the marigny area at the same time as US 101st Airborne Division,to draw enemy counter attack forces in the area of St Lo to the west. number 90 Squadron lost aircraft "M" and "C" with 14 crew killed,3 POW casualties,and one man unaccounted for whose fate is unknown to this day. One man later managed to escape by jumping from a train on July 23.