{"id":37173,"date":"2016-02-29T20:14:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T20:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/02\/29\/key-moments-in-army-airborne-history\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:49:41","slug":"key-moments-in-army-airborne-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2016\/02\/29\/key-moments-in-army-airborne-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Key moments in Army airborne history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In August the\u00a0Army celebrated 75 years of airborne operations. Some highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 1940: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A test platoon from Fort Benning’s 29th Infantry Regiment executes the Army’s first airborne training jump<\/a> less than 45 days after airborne was\u00a0formed.\u00a0The U.S. joined several world powers who had also developed the capability after World War I, including Italy, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Great Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 1941: <\/strong>Germany’s\u00a0massive\u00a0airborne\u00a0invasion of Crete, Greece captures\u00a0the island and thousands of British and Greek prisoners,\u00a0but massive casualties\u00a0convince Adolf Hitler to never use the tactic again. Allies, meanwhile, draw different conclusions and\u00a0use airborne operations,\u00a0with mixed results, throughout the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 1942:<\/strong> The U.S. carried out its first major airborne assault of World War II during the largely-amphibious\u00a0invasion of North Africa,\u00a0Operation Torch\u200b\u00a0. The U.S. 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment flew from Britain into present-day Algeria to capture two airfields near Oran. Bad weather and communications diverted aircraft and\u00a0scattered the drop<\/a>, and while some would participate in battle in Tunisia, the paratroopers were too disorganized to participate in the battle for Oran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
When U.S. Army paratroopers, dropped behind enemy lines and cannot use radio communication for fear of revealing their positions, they use trained pigeons that were also dropped by parachute in special containers or pigeons strapped to their chests. The pigeon, encased in a special jacket, is attached to the paratrooper\u0092s jacket on Sept. 11, 1943. (AP Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When U.S. Army paratroopers, dropped behind enemy lines and cannot use radio communication for fear of revealing their positions, they use trained pigeons that were also dropped by parachute in special containers or pigeons strapped to their chests. The pigeon, encased in a special jacket, is attached to the paratrooper’s jacket on Sept. 11, 1943.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Credit: AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 1944:<\/strong> Operation Overlord, the invasion at Normandy on D-Day, started with a 1,200-plane airborne assault into German-occupied France hours before the larger beach landings.\u00a0 American paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions achieved mixed results. They accomplished some key goals such as securing flanks for the amphibious invasion,\u00a0though they\u00a0also suffered missed landing zones and failure to meet other D-Day objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 1945:<\/strong> More than 16,000 allied paratroopers participate in Operation Varsity during the last major airborne operation of WWII and the largest one-day drop. The mission successfully overwhelmed the German opposition. Casualties for the two divisions totaled 2,700, with about 3,500 Germans captured and an unknown number of casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. paratroopers leave their planes in a mass drop behind enemy lines in the Sunchon area of North Korea on Oct. 25, 1950 during an operation designed to block the escape route of the retreating Chinese and to attempt to rescue American prisoners. Members of an advance party (foreground) watch the landing. (AP Photo\/Max Desfor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. paratroopers leave their planes in a mass drop behind enemy lines in the Sunchon area of North Korea on Oct. 25, 1950 during an operation designed to block the escape route of the retreating Chinese and to attempt to rescue American prisoners. Members of an advance party (foreground) watch the landing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Credit: Max Desfor\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 1951:<\/strong> During\u00a0Operation Tomahawk, the second of two Korean War jumps,\u00a0about 3,400 \u2018Rakkasans\u2019 with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team jump behind enemy lines to trap enemy forces north of Seoul. But as with the\u00a0first airborne drop in 1950 north of\u00a0Pyongyang, most\u00a0of the\u00a0opposing Chinese and North Korean\u00a0forces they hoped to corner\u00a0escaped<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dead jungle tree catches the eye of paratrooper of the U.S. 173rd air borne brigade in Vietnam\u0092s war zone C during operation Junction City on Feb. 26, 1967. (AP Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A dead jungle tree catches the eye of a paratrooper from the 173rd Airborne Brigade during Operation Junction City in Vietnam on Feb. 26, 1967.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Credit: AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 1967:<\/strong> About 800 paratroopers engage in America’\u00a0lone combat jump into Vietnam, Operation Junction City. While able to inflict significant causalities, the objective of finding and destroying the Viet Cong’s central command post failed. Most troops entered battle in\u00a0Vietnam via\u00a0air assault (helicopter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An 82nd Airborne trooper looks over his shoulder to take a last look at Grenada before boarding a Military Airlift Command plane for the trip home at Point Salines airfield on Friday, Nov. 4, 1983. (AP Photo\/Pete Leabo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An 82nd Airborne trooper looks over his shoulder to take a last look at Grenada before boarding a Military Airlift Command plane for the trip home at Point Salines airfield on Friday, Nov. 4, 1983.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Credit: Pete Leabo\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 1983:<\/strong> The United States invades Grenada with Operation Urgent Fury. Following an initial wave of 500 Rangers, about 6,500 troops enter in an amphibious, airborne, and helicopter assault of the Caribbean island nation with a population of about 90.000 that met minimal local and Cuban\u00a0resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 1989:<\/strong> The 82nd Airborne Division makes its first jump since World War II when 4,000 paratroopers, along with \u00a0the 75th Ranger Regiment, drop in to invade Panama and ultimately help remove dictator, drug trafficker,\u00a0and former CIA-informant Manuel Noriega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 1994:<\/strong> Planes loaded with paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division were already in the air and on the way to invade Haiti\u00a0during the UN-authorized Operation Uphold Democracy. Before they arrived, though, 1991 military coup leader and dictator Raoul Cedras decided to step down and restore\u00a0the democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
American soldiers with the 173rd Airborne division out of Vicenza, Italy, head to their vehicles as they guard an oil-gas seperation facility in the northern oil fields on the outskirts of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, Saturday April 12, 2003. (AP Photo\/Peter Dejong)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

American soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Vicenza, Italy, head to their vehicles as they guard an oil-gas separation facility in the northern oil fields on the outskirts of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on April 12, 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Credit: Peter Dejong\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 2003<\/strong>: About 950 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade jump into Northern Iraq into Bashur Airfield, which had already been secured by the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group\u00a0and Kurdish allies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 1940: A test platoon from Fort Benning\u2019s 29th Infantry Regiment executes the Army\u2019s first airborne training jump less than 45 days after it was formed. 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