WWII US Army Training Film - Parachute Jump Training, 1943

VIDEO HERE  (25:35 minutes)

This 1943 War Department training film (T.F. 31-1231) shows the four training stages that parachutists go through at the Army’s recently established Parachute School at Fort Benning, GA. The film opens with parachutists jumping out of Douglas C-47 Skytrains. New recruits stand at the school’s training grounds (00:48). The film recaps Stage “A” Training: the men do physical training, including ab exercises, pushups, tumbling (02:25), and relay games. Men climb ropes in a gymnasium (02:54). The film then moves to training during the second week, “B” Stage, and features a panning shot of the training grounds with the various structures used to train men to parachute (03:24). 

Men climb up and through a “trainnasium.” In a mock plane (04:24), men learn how to put on a parachute harness. Men practice putting on their parachutes. An instructor explains the function of the static line, and a jumper hops out of the mock fuselage. Several instructors sit on a platform and demonstrate hooking up the static line and checking parachute packs (06:45). The trainees sound off on their equipment check in the mock plane, then they take turns pivoting at the door and jumping out. Slow-motion footage shows the proper way to jump out of the plane (08:44). Men experience jumping out of a plane by jumping off a tower and riding down a zip line while holding the proper position for deployment and counting to make sure the chute has deployed (09:22). Men experience what it feels like to parachute in a harness in a suspended harness rig (10:40). A parachutist manipulates his parachute to land near a truck in a field. On the suspended harnesses rig, the men learn how to slip forward, right and left, perform body turns, and assume the proper landing position. Men practice landing on landing trainers (13:27), sliding down then releasing onto the ground and tumbling. Seasoned parachutists jump over a forest and land in trees, demonstrating the tree-landing position (14:30). A man gets stuck in a tree and shows how to properly slide out of the harness and then descend the chute lines to the ground. In “C” Stage training (15:58), men jump off towers for a free jump. First, men ride up in a chair rig with a canopy to experience a drop in a controlled tower; this is followed by controlled drops in harnesses. A man is raised up the tower for a free jump (17:39); the tower releases him and he free falls down to the ground. A second jumper leaves the tower and makes a body turn. The jumper lies on the ground and demonstrates how to quickly take off the harness (18:41). Men practice collapsing a chute in a stiff wind as large fans blow the chutes away (19:34). Men practice different ways of collapsing parachutes in wind. Slow-motion footage shows a man being dragged on his back; he then spins around and rises to his feet to collapse the chute. In “D” stage, during the fourth week, men stand on a runway next to C-47s as an instructor checks their equipment (21:17). The men load into the C-47s and the planes take off. The planes fly in the air (22:38), and a jump master gives instructions to the men in his plane. Viewers see the men prepare their gear, hook up their static lines, count off, then make their first live jumps (24:00). The film shows men jumping out of the planes and dozens of parachutes opening in the sky. The men land in a large open field at the school. The film then cuts to men retrieving guns and equipment from an air drop in what is presumably a combat zone (25:10), concluding the film.