# why were parachutes white? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433 "2001-03-25T18:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/1 "2001-03-25T18:51:44Z")
Watching an old WWII movie (you know, the one where John Wayne plays a brave soldier?), and there was this night parachute drop over ‘enemy’ territory. So, you have these hundreds of brilliant white parachutes coming down making excellent targets for the soldiers on the ground. so, I was wondering, why the parachutes dark colors (to blend in better with the night sky)? Or was this a cinematographic effect (that in the night the white parachutes wouldn’t be so damned noticable)? Or possability 3 (which I haven’t thought of)? ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/2 "2001-03-25T20:06:11Z")
FYI, “this old WWII movie” was \*The Longest Day[/] (1962), and John Wayne played Lt. Col. Vandervoort of the 82nd Airborne. I was watching it this weekend, too. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/3 "2001-03-25T20:17:51Z")
Wow! That may just be the longest movie title I’ve ever seen! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/4 "2001-03-25T20:20:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wring \* > \*\*Watching an old WWII movie (you know, the one where John Wayne plays a brave soldier?), and there was this night parachute drop over ‘enemy’ territory. So, you have these hundreds of brilliant white parachutes coming down making excellent targets for the soldiers on the ground. > \*\* WAG: It could simply be a matter of economics. The nylon they made parachutes out of comes out white when you make it (I used to work in a nylon plant - one that, in fact, made parachutes during the war) and it costs money and time to dye it. The color of the parachute really isn’t going to make a darned bit of difference ninety-nine times out of a hundred. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/5 "2001-03-25T22:20:01Z")
Tbone… You must never have heard of _The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies_ (1963). Or the movie version of the stageplay _The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis DeSade_ (1966) a.k.a _Marat/Sade_. Nor have you heard that sometimes people goof up on their italic brackets and can’t go back and edit them. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JCThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dc4da7/32.png) [@JCThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/6 "2001-03-25T22:52:06Z")
I agree that it’s possible that the old chutes were white for the reason of economics/time. But I believe that now, they have many different types & colors specifically designed for certain times (night/day), speed & maneuverability(sp), weather (bright, sunny day/overcast/heavy rain), blah, blah, blah… - good question. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/7 "2001-03-25T22:56:08Z")
OT > [@](#): > > _The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies_ The title is better than the film. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/8 "2001-03-25T22:57:21Z")
I think RickJay pretty much hit it on the head. It might help a little at night to have dark parachutes, but then in the daytime they would stand out. They sure weren’t going to have two shades (one for day and one for night). That is just the way it was back then. John Wayne would never have used pastel blue for a day jump. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/9 "2001-03-25T23:14:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \* > \*\*Tbone… > You must never have heard of _The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies_ (1963). Or the movie version of the stageplay _The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis DeSade_ (1966) a.k.a _Marat/Sade_. Nor have you heard that sometimes people goof up on their italic brackets and can’t go back and edit them. ☹ \*\* OK, OK. Just razzin’ ya, Grump! Ain’t HTML a bitch? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/10 "2001-03-26T00:33:29Z")
## \>\>\>\>\>\> quote: Originally posted by wring Watching an old WWII movie (you know, the one where John Wayne plays a brave soldier?), and there was this night parachute drop over ‘enemy’ territory. So, you have these hundreds of brilliant white parachutes coming down making excellent targets for the soldiers on the ground. * * * WAG: It could simply be a matter of economics. The nylon they made parachutes out of comes out white when you make it (I used to work in a nylon plant - one that, in fact, made parachutes during the war) and it costs money and time to dye it. The color of the parachute really isn’t going to make a darned bit of difference ninety-nine times out of a hundred.\<\<\<\<\<\< I believe WWII parachutes were made from silk not nylon.That’s why all the movie actresses “gave up” wearing silk stockings for the “war effort”. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/11 "2001-03-26T13:22:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rich G7subs \* > \*\*I believe WWII parachutes were made from silk not nylon.That’s why all the movie actresses “gave up” wearing silk stockings for the “war effort”. > \*\* That is also why used 'chutes from bailed-out pilots were in great demand on the black market in England. The only problem then was where to get supplies of black market knicker elastic to hold them up 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-parachutes-white/59433/12 "2001-03-26T15:35:35Z")
Ok, so we seem to believe that there was a cost factor (didn’t want to have two sets of chutes, one for daytime, one for night/ and or extra cost for dyes). There seems to be a consensus that the white chutes **would** be seen easily at night (my SO speculated that Hollywood scenes weren’t necessarily realistic if there was no ambient light). appreciate the info so far.