Glider Jumping At Camp Mackall, 1943

SPECIAL FORCES HISTORY

“We Badly Needed Something to Do”*

Glider Jumping At Camp Mackall, 1943

*Quote by T/5 Daniel Morgan

By Troy J. Sacquety, PhD

From Veritas, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2007

SIDEBAR

Tragedy at Lake Kinney Cameron

The 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion

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Camp Mackall, North Carolina, now a training area for Army Special Operations, was the headquarters of the U.S. Army Airborne Command during World War II. It was named for Private John Thomas Mackall, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, one of America’s first paratroopers killed in action. Mackall was wounded by a strafing Vichy France fighter aircraft on 8 November 1942, and died of his wounds four days later. It was at Camp Mackall that the 11th, 13th, and 17th Airborne Divisions were activated and trained. It was also where the U.S. Army Airborne Command evaluated airborne tactics and techniques and tested equipment. One dicey test was to jump paratroopers from towed gliders. After six tests, the method was deemed impractical and too dangerous for both jumpers and the jump platforms. The activity is a little-known aspect of Camp Mackall’s history.

Lieutenant Colonel Wood G. Joerg, Commander, 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion
Lieutenant Colonel Wood G. Joerg

The unit chosen for the test was the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB). The 551st, known as the GOYAs based on commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Wood C. Joerg’s favorite expression, “Get Off Your Ass!” was a unique unit.1 It became one of only two independent parachute battalions that saw action in WWII, the 509th PIB was the other one. The GOYAs were formed to guard the Canal Zone against possible Axis attack. When an infantry battalion was sent to Panama, the jungle-trained GOYAs were reassigned to Camp Mackall on 8 September 1943. There, they remained until 11 April 1944, when they left for Italy. By the time the GOYAs arrived at Camp Mackall, they were bored and itching for excitement. They welcomed the opportunity to test new parachuting techniques.

Camp Mackall in 1945
Camp Mackall in 1945
The unofficial insignia of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion. The Spanish motto “Aterrice y Ataque,” means “Land and Attack.”
The unofficial insignia of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion. The Spanish motto “Aterrice y Ataque,” means “Land and Attack.”

Camp Mackall was an ideal location for the U.S. Army Airborne Command to validate airborne tactics and techniques. In contrast to its current size of 7,916 acres, the Camp Mackall area encompassed more than 70,000 acres in WWII, counting the adjacent civilian-owned land where the Army had maneuver rights. Much of the area collectively known today as the North Carolina–owned Sandhills Wildlife Areas was part of Camp Mackall during the war. This large expanse provided a large maneuver area for the airborne-forces-in-training that surrounded what became a small “city” in the Carolina Sandhills. Mackall was also close to the Army airfield at Laurinburg-Maxton and in an area that was free of commercial air traffic.

For the Camp Mackall glider tests, the paratroopers would board the WG-4A Waco gliders at Laurinburg-Maxton Army Airbase. This group of 551st paratroopers are seen milling around on the tarmac prior to loading into the glider.
For the Camp Mackall glider tests, the paratroopers would board the WG-4A Waco gliders at Laurinburg-Maxton Army Airbase. This group of 551st paratroopers are seen milling around on the tarmac prior to loading into the glider.
Map showing present and former sizes of Camp Mackall.
Present (yellow) and former (green) sizes of Camp Mackall.

In October 1943, the Airborne Command decided to evaluate the suitability of CG-4A Waco gliders as paratrooper delivery platforms. The logic was that with paratroopers simultaneously jumping from two CG-4As and their C-47 Skytrain tow aircraft, then the number of combat paratroopers jumped could be doubled. It was anticipated that the paratroopers would land in a more compact group, thereby avoiding a scattered drop.2 The fact that the towing C-47s would be flying so slow, however, meant that the entire flight would be “sitting ducks” for anti-aircraft fire. Technician Fifth Grade Daniel Morgan recalled that a few weeks after the 551st got to Camp Mackall, LTC Joerg volunteered for jump testing. “Notices appeared on the company bulletin board calling for volunteers … signature sheets immediately filled to overflowing, for we badly needed something to do.”3 Lieutenant Richard Mascuch does not remember volunteering. He recalls being told that he would be jumping from gliders later that day.4

In the glider jump tests, a C-47 aircraft would tow two paratrooper-laden CG-4A Waco gliders.
In the glider jump tests, a C-47 aircraft would tow two paratrooper-laden CG-4A Waco gliders.

In all, paratroopers of the 551st made six test jumps from the CG-4A Waco glider from late October 1943 to November 1943; five at Camp Mackall and one at Alachua Army Airfield in Florida.5 The first test jump took place at Camp Mackall on 18 October. It was followed the next day by another with some eighty paratroopers involved. On the 20th, a few paratroopers flew from Camp Mackall to Florida for their first demonstration jump.6 Back at Camp Mackall, on 21 October, a demonstration jump was made for British and American “top brass,” which included a British Air Marshall, Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, Commanding General Army Ground Forces, and Major General E.G. Chapman, Commanding General of the Airborne Command.7 Staff Sergeant Jack Carr recalled that the men jumped on a drop zone that was concealed by a grove of trees, where fresh troops lay hidden. After the paratroopers had landed, the other group left their hiding places and rushed out into the clearing to show the assembled “brass” that the experiment was an unqualified success!8

Lieutenant Richard Mascuch kept a wartime diary that tells of his jump and of life at Camp Mackall.
Lieutenant Richard Mascuch kept a wartime diary that tells of his jump and of life at Camp Mackall.
This photo reveals how cramped it was inside a CG-4A when carrying eleven fully loaded paratroopers.
This photo reveals how cramped it was inside a CG-4A when carrying eleven fully loaded paratroopers.

In reality, the glider jump tests were anything but successful. Gliders had not been designed for jumping and the experience was unique. Richard Field recalled thinking, “What the hell am I doing in this thing! They were built like model airplanes. I was so happy to get out of those things.”9 Alfred Garrety remembered that “the ride in the ‘Flying Coffin’ was bumpy … I kept a firm grip on one of the wooden structural members as I had the feeling that the plywood floor would collapse at any time.”10 Paratroopers jumped out both sides of the glider. If they did not jump out in unison from the opposite doors, the glider was thrown off balance and it would “heel over on one wing.”11

As George Brower related, “A failure of the static lines to pull equally created a rocking effect that caused the last men to have to crawl out on their hands and knees.”12 Staff Sergeant Charlie Fairlamb put it more colorfully: “There were five men on one side and six on the other … I was the last man out—the glider lurched, and I was half-way out the wrong door. I knew I was supposed to go out the other one, but I was kind of hanging in the doorway … I gave one push and hit the thin plywood flooring, skidded across and went right out the other door like I was doing a swan dive. I was in a terrible position … so my chute malfunctioned. I was coming down and couldn’t find my risers … I spun around—not smart enough to open my reserve. I spun until I was almost horizontal, but I was lucky on the landing … As difficult as our training was, I still appreciated it. I was almost glad to get into combat though; it was easier than the training.”13

Camp Mackall memorialized the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion by naming a road after the unit.
Camp Mackall memorialized the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion by naming a road after the unit.

After two more experiments, on 31 October and a final one in late November, the 551st PIB troopers were finished with glider jumping.20 After several injuries, the Airborne Command determined that gliders were not a viable parachute platform. Lieutenant Richard Mascuch, veteran of five of the six glider jumps, felt that the gliders were a viable platform for parachute jumping, but flying at near stall speed, the C-47 tow plane and its covey of CG-4As was too vulnerable to ground fire.21 However, the spirit of the 551st PIB earned a citation from Major General Chapman. In part it read, “ … the Commanding General has noted the fine spirit existent in the 551st Parachute Battalion which prompted many volunteers to hazard tests in parachute jumping of a type which has not been done before. The test conducted … materially contributed to the progress of parachuting. The unselfish cooperative attitude expressed by individuals of the battalion insured success of tests in jumping from both doors of gliders in double tow.22 These parachuting experiments had left the mark of the GOYAs on Camp Mackall.

I wish to thank 551st veterans Colonel Doug Dillard, Richard Field, and Dick Mascuch; Les Hughes for providing several of the images and the 551st unit patch; Lowell Stevens for help with the Camp Mackall portion; and the Airborne and Special Operation Museum for providing photos of their CG-4A.

ENDNOTES

  1. A more polite, if not false, explanation for GOYA is “Great Outstanding Young Americans.” One finds it hard to believe 18–25-year-old soldiers getting “charged up” by this expression. According to 551st veteran Richard Field, Lieutenant Colonel Joerg called the men of the 551st his “GOYA-birds.” [return]
  2. Gregory Orfalea, Messengers of the Lost Battalion: The Heroic 551st and the Turning of the Tide at the Battle of the Bulge, (New York: The Free Press, 1997), 75. [return]
  3. Daniel Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart: The Saga of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (Wauconda, Washington: Alder Enterprises, 1984), 94. [return]
  4. Richard Mascuch, telephone interview by Troy Sacquety, 1 March 2007, notes, USASOC History Office Files, Fort Bragg, NC. [return]
  5. Orfalea, Messengers of the Lost Battalion, 76. [return]
  6. Richard Mascuch, diary, 17 October 1943–2 November, 1943, copy of select pages, USASOC History Office Files, Fort Bragg, NC. [return]
  7. Mascuch, diary. [return]
  8. Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart, 99. [return]
  9. Richard Field, interview with Troy Sacquety, Fort Bragg, NC, 28 February 2007, notes, USASOC History Office Files, Fort Bragg, NC. [return]
  10. Albert P. Garrety, unpublished memoir, (Redwood City, CA, circa 1986), ii. [return]
  11. Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart, 94. [return]
  12. George Browder, The Road to Tokyo (unpublished, undated), 42–46, quoted in Tom MacCallum and Lowell Stevens, Camp Mackall: and its Times in the Sandhills of North Carolina, unpublished manuscript, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC. [return]
  13. Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart, 94, 99. [return]
  14. Garrety, unpublished memoir, ii. [return]
  15. Garrety, unpublished memoir, ii. [return]
  16. George Browder, The Road to Tokyo, 42–46. [return]
  17. Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart, 99. [return]
  18. Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart, 99. [return]
  19. Silent Wings Museum newsletter, Glider Paratroopers, Part II, 8. [return]
  20. Mascuch, diary; Orfalea, Messengers of the Lost Battalion, 77. [return]
  21. Mascuch interview. [return]
  22. Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart, 98. [return]
  23. Michel De Trez, First Airborne Task Force: Pictorial History of the Allied Paratroopers in the Invasion of Southern France (Wezembeek-Oppem, Belgium: D-Day Publishing, 1998), 4. [return]
  24. Daniel Morgan, The Left Corner of My Heart: The Saga of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (Wauconda, Washington: Alder Enterprises, 1984), 447. [return]
  25. 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (unofficial website), http://www.551stpib.com/puc.html, January 2007. [return]