United States Army Airborne School - History

History

In 1940, the War Department approved the formation of a test platoon of Airborne Infantry under the direction and control of the Army's Infantry Board. A test platoon of volunteers was organized from Fort Benning's 29th Infantry Regiment, and the 2d Infantry Division was directed to conduct tests to develop reference data and operational procedures for air-transported troops.

First Lieutenant William T. Ryder volunteered and was made the test platoon's platoon leader, Lieutenant James A. Bassett was designated assistant platoon leader, and forty-eight enlisted men were selected from a pool of 200 volunteers. The platoon moved into tents near Lawson Field, and an abandoned hanger was obtained for training and parachute packing.

Lieutenant Colonel William C. Lee, a staff officer for the Chief of Infantry, recommended that the test platoon be moved to the Safe Parachute Company at Hightstown, NJ and train using parachute drop towers from the New York World's Fair. Eighteen days after forming, the platoon was moved to New Jersey and trained for one week on the 250-foot free towers, which proved to be particularly effective - drops from the tower added realism otherwise impossible to duplicate outside of an airplane drop, and proved to the troopers that their parachutes would function safely. Impressed, the Army purchased two and erected them on what is now Eubanks Field at Fort Benning. Two more were later added, and today three of the original four towers are still in use. Parachute landing training was often conducted by the volunteers jumping from PT platforms and from the back of moving trucks to allow the trainees to experience the shock of landing.

Less than forty-five days after it was formed, members of the test platoon made their first jump from a Douglas B-18 over Lawson Field on 16 August 1940. Lieutenant Ryder and Private William N. (Red) King became the first officer and enlisted man to make an official jump as paratroopers in the United States Army. On 29 August, the platoon made the first platoon mass jump held in the United States.

Members of the original test platoon formed the battalion cadre of the 501st Parachute Battalion, the first parachute combat unit. The second, the 502d Parachute Infantry Battalion, was activated on 1 July 1941. As more airborne units were activated, a centralized training facility was organized at Fort Benning on 15 May 1942. Over time, the U.S. Army Parachute School was known by a variety of names:

• The Airborne School (1 January 1946);
• Airborne Army Aviation Section, The Infantry School (1 November 1946);
• Airborne Department, The Infantry School (February, 1955);
• Airborne-Air Mobility Department (February, 1956);
• Airborne Department (August 1964);
• Airborne-Air Mobility Department (October, 1974);
• Airborne Department (October, 1976);
• 4th Airborne Training Battalion,
• The School Brigade (January, 1982);
• 1st Battalion (Abn), 507TH Parachute Infantry, The School Brigade (October, 1985); and
• 1st Battalion (Abn), 507TH Infantry, 11th Infantry Regiment (July, 1991).