Uncle Sam drills parachute troops
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Title (Dublin Core)
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Uncle Sam drills parachute troops
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Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
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Uncle sam drills parachute troops
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extracted text (Extract Text)
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PARACHUTE troops for |
The U. S. Army have
just had their first mass
trial at Hightstown, N. J. |
Two officers and forty-eight
enlisted men, chosen from
volunteers at Fort Ben- |
ning, Ga. recenlly
formed an experimental
platoon to test large-
scale training methods.
If War Department of-
ficials pronounce the
innovation practical,
the fifty pioneers may
become the nucleus of
an expanded, European-
style “air infantry.”
For the initial ex-
periment, Army men
used a pair of 125-foot
parachute - jumping
towers operated at
Hightstown by a civil-
jan concern. Military
technique developed here gradually accus-
toms a novice to the feel of a real para-
chute drop, in complete safety.
A learner first drops in a permanently
opened parachute, guided by wires, as at
amusement parks. Instead of sitting in a
swing, however, he wears a standard har-
ness, and is taught how to absorb the
shock of landing on his feet.
With the parachute still open, but with-
out the guide wires, the jumper next tries
free drops. For this purpose, the parachute-
launching boom can be rotated
according to wind direction, so
that he always will drift away
from the tower. An instructor
shows him how to spill the air
from his chute, as soon as he
lands, so as not to be dragged
along the ground by a breeze.
Finally the student “bails
out” with a folded ‘chute, pull-
ing a rip cord to open it, as he
would do in actual warfare. If
he delays overlong, a safety
cable brings him to a stop with-
out injury.
By these easy stages, it is
proposed, large bodies of U. 8. Army in-
fantry could quickly be turned into ex-
perienced ‘chutists. Successful European
tactics suggest that they would be dropped
behind enemy lines to capture and hold key
positions, until reénforced by air or land.
It is interesting to note that the United
States Army was among the first to experi-
ment with the use of parachute troops, con-
ducting tests at Brooks Field, San Antonio,
Tex., as reported in the February 1929 issue
of POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY
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Language (Dublin Core)
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eng
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Date Issued (Dublin Core)
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1940-11
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pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
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68-69
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Rights (Dublin Core)
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Public domain
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Archived by (Dublin Core)
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Sami Akbiyik
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Marco Bortolami (editor)
Popular Science Monthly. v. 137, n. 5 1940
