I remember when the troopers held their arms up as if holding the straps of the chute. Back then if you used external view on a loaded c47, you could zoom INTO the area where the troops were in back of the plane. They would actually be inside the plane, lined up front to back & still in the arms up position as if holding chute straps.
During this era, I had lifted a fighter at the same time another player lifted a loaded goon of troopers. Somehow, one of the troopers ended up to the outside of my fighter. It looked like a wingwalker. I tried to get it on film but when I hit record it went away.
If I remember correctly, the troopers from that era even ran in that position(similar to Atlas pose), which was most un-natural looking.