Avenger lost crew okay.

Lucky that they both bailed out. Not too many people wear a chute even on a ferry flight over "Tiger Country"

I know the Avenger's undercarriage locks down (as expected) but do they have an Up lock? If not would they rely on hydraulic pressure in the "UP" line to hold them up and perhaps she had a leak? How much were they down Dave? Glad to hear the crew got out although injured better than the alternative.

Folks,

They do have uplocks but, I believe, these uplocks were removed from all three that operated here in Oz.

They were essentially using the chutes as props.
www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/101/4071-full.html?ET=avweb:e4071:254696a:&st=email#230861
warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66486&p=603491#p603478

As smoke filled the cockpit and the aircraft seemed sure to shake itself to pieces, survival was top of mind and that didn’t seem likely where he was sitting. He used hand signals to gesture to his passenger to leave the aircraft and use the modern replica of a wartime parachute to go the rest of the way down. When he bought them, the parachutes were more part of the quest for authenticity than a realistic option for returning to earth. Carlson said he wanted to relive the experience of a naval aviator as authentically as possible and that meant sitting on a parachute.

Franzese didn’t need any further prompting. “I looked back and he was gone,” Carlson said.

Carlson pitched the aircraft up and banked right, not realizing Franzese was still clinging to handholds on the outside of the aircraft. The maneuver allowed Carlson to swing his legs over the canopy sill and launch himself into the thin air. At the same time, it broke Franzese’s grip and sent him plummeting on a similar trajectory. The D-rings on both chutes worked as promised but before they could get used to the ride, they were crashing through trees in an unceremonious reunion with earth. Carlson estimates they were about 1,000 feet AGL when he went over the side and ride was short and not very sweet. One of Carlson’s condescensions to style over practicality was not properly tightening the parachute straps. The shock of the canopy opening shook him to the bone.

It was the first parachute jump for both men.

Over the years, I'd say a few glider pilots have never intended to undertake a parachute ride, yet made their first jump when it all turned to custard in wave lift.

I flew gliders for a few years with the Hawke's Bay Gliding Club in the 1970s and they used to enforce wearing parachutes when intentially looking for wave lift or flying anywhere near locations likely to develop wave lift in the right weather conditions. If I can recall correctly, I think it was an offical club rule. They used to pay the Club Safety Officer at Hawke's Bay Skydivers Club to periodically inspect and repack the club's parachutes. The private glider owners also had a similar arrangement with that CSO. He runs the commercial skydiving operation at Hood Aerodrome these days.