Paratrooper

The First Airborne Infantry “Test Platoon”

In late June of 1940, the US War Department finally followed suit of many other countries and created an Airborne Infantry “Test Platoon” at Fort Benning, GA. This test platoon was composed of 2 officers and 48 enlisted soldiers from Fort Benning’s 29th Infantry Regiment. The first Lieutenant William T. Ryder was the test platoon’s […]

Origin of the Capewell Release: Part II

Officers at Ft. Benning, where 200,000 paratroopers have been trained since the first U.S. airborne test unit was formed there in 1941, call the Capewell release a significant military improvement, one that theoretically can save hundreds of lives, greatly reduce the number of injuries in troop jumps, and vastly increase the potential effectiveness of combat […]

Origin of the Capewell Release: Part I

Did you know that the same life-saving hardware used on today’s troop parachutes is essentially the same tried and true device that’s been in service for over 50 years? The best story of how the Capewell release came to be was written in the 1960s when the T-10 parachute was first adopted by the U.S. […]

Archived