The 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion Glider Jump Experiments

The short lived experiment

My recent posting has been delayed because I have been deep in research on a little discussed group of men in WWII - the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion. The airborne is not my major focus of study so a bit of extra research time was needed. I appreciate all of your patience. I was started on this journey by a gentleman named Mark Schroeder who is on my FB Group Combat Glider Pilots of WWII . The title of this excellent book is The Left Corner of My Heart, The Saga of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion. The 551st PIB has absolutely intrigued me since I began reading about it and in my own way I see many parallels with the glider pilots of WWII.

Like the glider pilots the 551st were seemingly an entity within themselves. The 551st was without Divisional Headquarters and were one of two independent paratroop groups - the 501st and the 551st. The glider pilots were under Troop Carrier Command but especially after the glider program’s inception they were for the most part the airmen no one knew what to do with. Often called the Bastards of the Army Air Corps a glider pilot quote I read recently was “We weren’t bastards, we knew who are mother was, we just couldn’t find her.” I’m not sure the 551st had a mother. Unlike the glider program which became more of the cohesive whole of Troop Carrier as it evolved, the 551st was used up in combat until their numbers were so diminished in Battle of the Bulge that they were deactivated. The few remaining were sent as replacements to the 82nd and 101st Airborne. A sad ending indeed which reminds me very much of Montgomery use of the airborne in Market- Garden.

Much like the glider pilots, the members of the 551st were young men trained, ready and eager for action. Both groups of men began to have morale issues and were more often than not in trouble to the point where it was decided something must be done. For the glider pilots waiting in glider pools the answer was to incorporate combat training. For the most part this worked out well. However, for the 551st who had been training constantly and whose beloved commander Colonel Joerg had been replaced by a commander they felt no rapport with, additional training for readiness and punishment was disastrous. The more pressure applied to the men to conform, the more that ended up in the brig. Finally, Joreg returned and balance was restored.

During the war the 551st was attached to the 82nd, the 30th Infantry, and the 101st Airborne. At times they were slated to fight alone without the support of the infantry they were assigned to. The glider pilots, especially those of the 314th TCG flew almost the entire war on detached service since the 314th did not tow gliders on a mission until Operation VARSITY in 1945. Whereas the glider pilots often flew with copilots and crews they did not know. The 551st fought with their own.

Both the glider and the 551st ended up in Panama at some point. I don’t have much information on the gliders in Panama, I came across a short reference which stated that they were experimenting with the gliders and the airborne. The 551st after what seemed to them as endless training was finally sent to Panama as well. While there they were scheduled for one mission that did not go off and were then sent to San Francisco and then to Fort MacKall where their glider jumping experience was soon to begin. If the 551st and the gliders crossed paths in Panama I do not know.

By the time the 551st PIB reached Fort MacKall in North Carolina they were ready for anything. Sources I read quoted members of the 551st which for the most part agreed that as soon as the volunteer sheets calling for volunteers to jump out of the gliders it was filled up. However, at least one member said he didn’t recall signing up but did end up in taking part in the jumping exercise. There were five or six jumps, sources vary, although more likely six. All but one were at Fort MacKall and one was in Alachua Florida. One of the jumps at Fort MacKall and the one in Alachua were demonstration jumps to prove what a good idea it was. The only successes were they managed to get out of the glider and they managed to land on the earth. Regardless a success was declared and further glider jumping was abandoned. Perhaps that speaks for itself.

The purpose behind the jumps was the ability to conduct a double glider tow and have paratroopers jumping from both sides of each glider and from the C-47. The aim was to enable the paratroopers to land as a group in the same area, an attempt to avoid scattered drops over larger areas that were experienced with the C-47 drops. For those who considered the idea somewhat successful the major drawback was the slow speed the C-47 had to fly making both gliders and the C-47 great targets for the enemy as they slowly lumbered across the sky.

How it worked is very interesting. One of the major necessities for the glider pilots and a successful flight was a balanced and secured load. The glider pilots took great pains to make sure these two conditions were met each and every time they flew. To maintain the balance in the glider. The paratroopers had to jump out in pairs - in unison - one out each side of the glider. If not the glider pilot and copilot would be fighting the glider which would either go nose up each time the men jumped and the glider weight was lightened or if an odd number of jumpers were left the glider would be unbalanced and tip wing down to one side. I found both issues discussed in sources. The glider pilots basically fought to keep the glider level and in the correct position behind the tow plane during the jumps.

Jumping in unison was not as easy as it sounds. The gliders were cramped with the two rows of men lined up in preparation to jump, and the glider doors were pretty small for the fully equipped men as each at their separate doors would have to configure themselves to get out the doors. An additional problem arose when there was only one jumper left and the glider lurched from the last set of jumpers. George Brower, the last jumper experienced being thrown across the glider when the glider “lurched” and sent him sprawling towards the opposite door. Attempting to recover and exit the door he was assigned to jump from he ended up in a swan dive/slide out the door headfirst

in a rather harrowing jump.

There is not a wealth of information available on the glider jumps experiments and a search of online records held in various archives did not turn up any documents. That could simply be because of the fragmentary number of WWII documents that have been digitized and are available online. The sources pretty much site the same information with some a few personalized facts included. I have listed a few of the sources I consulted and pulled this information from for your further reading. As I stated I am quite intrigued with the 551st and will be doing a few more posts on them.

I do ask for your patience if my posts are sometimes delayed as I am researching fresh information for this site, and also conducting research for two upcoming books on the Gliders and Troop Carrier in Bastogne.

The Left Corner of my Heart, The Saga of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion by Dan Morgan

We Badly Needed Something to Do, Glider Jumping at Camp Mackall, 1943 by Troy J. Sacquety

551st Parachute Infantry Association at https://551pib.us/history/