Following the success of the German Fallschirmjäger at the start of World War II, the U.S. quickly developed its own airborne infantry units, culminating in strategically vital combat jumps against German and Japanese forces
Troops from the Sky
An Interwar Concept Brought to Life in World War II
Quite possibly, the earliest trace of American military interest in the possibility of airborne infantry can be linked back to 1928. By 1939, military planners in Washington, D.C. began seriously looking into the feasibility and strategic advantages of forming airborne units. While some advocated for focusing these kinds of units as teams of combat engineers, others were more interested in their potential as assault forces inserted from the air.
In April of 1940 the first platoon was formed to test theories and experiment with methods and techniques. Following some refinement of Army regulations, the test platoon made the first U.S. test parachute jump in August of 1940. In September of 1940, the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB, initially designated the 1st Parachute Battalion and later as 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment) was stood up, and would later see combat at Corregidor in the Philippines, during the Americans’ liberation of the islands, in February of 1945. This unit does not share a lineage with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (of the 101st Airborne Division), apart from the fact that all American airborne units owe their birth to the success of the test platoon and the 501st PIB’s distinction of being first.
By May of 1941, official US Army doctrine recognized airborne troops as key forces for serving as the tip of a much broader spear, for providing flanking strength, for diversionary attacks, and for reaching enemy forces that were either exposed or hard to attack by conventional forces. By July of 1941, a dedicated test battalion was formed, the 88th Infantry Airborne Battalion, which soon became the 88th Glider Infantry Regiment in mid-1942, serving as the US Army’s proving unit for the development of tactics, procedures, and techniques in the design, loading, flying, and employment of gliders, glider-borne troops, and glider-carried equipment, vehicles, and large weapons into combat.
Following the standing up of of other experimental units that successfully tested and employed theoretical tactics in moderate-scale exercises, the first of two battalions for the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment was stood up—a unit that would later claim the first successful combat jump at Nadzab in New Guinea in September of 1943, following the chaotic airborne combat drops during Operation Torch in North Africa in 1942, and Operation Husky in Sicily earlier in 1943.
For more on how the U.S. airborne units became the feared fighting forces that they are today:
"The First U.S. Army Airborne Operation"—Jay A. Graybeal, Army Heritage Museum—U.S. Army
"Timeline of the US Airborne Troops"—Airborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Eglise)
"How the 82D Airborne Division Was Created"—U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum
"The 505th Infantry Regiment"—Nicholas C. Welsh—The Army Historical Foundation
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