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Says "It All Starts In Jump School.""Well," he said, "it's three weeks long." ---- "What else?" the recuit asked. "The first week they separate the men from the boys, and the second week, they separate the men from the fools." --- "And the third week?" the recuit asked.
 Paratroopers of the 50's can send you a copy of this CD for $10.00 to cover our cost of making and shipping it. We can ship an additional one for $4.00 a total of $14.00 Mail your request to: CJ Magro POB 367 Town Creek, Al. 35672. While the pictures are loading here's a great a letter By William J Waters Jr. who served with the 82nd from 1948 to 1950 and A Jump School instructor at Ft. Benning from 1950 to 1953. "Just thought of something interesting about the 250' towers we used a 32' chute on the towers this is back when we were still using the old T-7 chutes, I don't know if you ever used one but it was 28' in diameter and was packed naked in other words it the canopy was not packed in a bag like the T-10, when it opened you got the full blast from the plane, quite a difference from the T-10. We used to jump a lot of the old C46 - C47 planes and our mainstay was the C-82 we started getting some of the C-119s but we didn't like them they couldn't slow them down enough and you got a lot of riser burns. Our training was five weeks instead of three like it is now, also we had to make six jumps instead of five the last jump was a night jump. When we got our wings we also got our glider wings at the same time. Shortly they discontinued the gliders because of an accident at Benning that killed quite a few men."
Like to read more about Jump school and ; Planes of the fifties by a man who was not only there but taught it ; well click on the item; you wish to read.  Sadism was rampant in Jump School and I guess I accepted the pain and abuse because I wanted to be a Magro. We would get invited to "QUIT" regularly--everyday---many times--- every day. One of the "punishment" things along the lines of "DROP---GIVE ME 25" (pushups) was the "Rock Pit"--a pit lined with 2"--3" rocks in the bottom. You would stand in the pit and jump up into the air and do a PLF (Parachute Landing Fall) onto the rocks then get up and do it over and over until you did as many as you had been ordered to. Believe me---after doing a few of these--- you start learning how to "LAND EASY". So maybe it wasn't just punishment after all. by Norman Taliaferro, 11th Abn Recon Co.           BUT FIRST BETTER READ OUR WARNING THIS IS "FOR MEN ONLY !" Be part of one of the largest data base to find old Para Buddies !! Please, list the dates and units you served with. Sign Our MANIFEST 
View Our MANIFEST Combat Jumps; Jump School; The Planes; and Great Jump Pictures? Then use our drop down menu and pick a DZ to jump on. Paratroopers of the 50's Site Index Paratroopers of the 50's main Index Page Paratroopers of the 50's
The 34' towers is where they separated the men from the boys. We had more people quit here than at any other stage of training. I remember my first time in the tower ; I was behind a former pro football player, they stood him in the door, and he looked down he completely froze and wouldn't move, he walked back down the stairs. I was next ; as I stood in the door, the instructor on the ground hollowed "Sound out your number". I hollowed my number , then he said" hollow your number ", I did it again, after the third time, I finally realized he meant for me to look down, something I had been avoiding, When I looked down, he quit asking for my number. I could see why he wanted me to look down, talk about scary, it looked more like two hundred feet than thirty four! When I was tapped to go I went without thinking. I knew then I was going to be a paratrooper! Bill
The fourth week was all 250" towers. Benning had four towers , one had cables on it , and was used to give the men an idea of what it was like to be on the towers. I didn't like this one , because you came straight down fast, it was a little bit scary. Incidentally the tower was just like the ones at Coney Island, NY. The first time I went up it wasn't really scary until they released you and you could feel yourself falling that gave you a scare and a thrill, the ride was short but when you hit the ground it made you feel like you had just made a real jump.
When you were on the dirty arm you had to use what we called a tower slip, that is where you pulled your risers all the way down to your belt buckle to get away from the tower, but we still got a few people into them, the rest of the arms were clean but you still took up a tower slip, just not as server a slip. The 250 foot towers were a lot of fun, it was our first taste of being in a real parachute and when we finished the week it kind of made you feel you had already jumped, even if it was only 250" ft. Bill
Difference in parachutes and planes: I will try an explain the difference in them as I saw and felt it. With the T-10 it really didn't make much difference in the speed the plane was traveling because you were under the prop blast when your chute opens, with the old T-7 your chute opened in the prop blast, and if you have heard the term "hitting the blast" , well with the old T-7 you really did hit the blast ! The T-10 was packed in a sleeve, which allowed you to fall below the prop blast before your chute opened. With the old T-7 the canopy was not in a bag , when you left the plane and reached the end of your static line the canopy was right in the blast and you felt the full force of it. Riser burns across your shoulders, especially if you were jumping with a fifty pound GP bag, were common. When your chute opened , it looked as if someone grabbed a rag doll and snapped it. My favorite Plane was the old C-46 it had wide doors and the pilots could slow it down to around 85 knots, the C-47 was the same. It just didn't have very big doors, you couldn't stand up in them. The C-82 (boxcar) was our mainstay and it was
a very good plane, except for the fact it was like a bumble bee it was
not supposed to fly ; but it didn't know the difference and flew
anyway.
Then along came the C-119 a very good plane it was just ahead of the T-10 and the pilots could only slow them down to around 135 knots. Now, with a old T-7 that made a lot of difference when you got your opening shock, I can remember a lot of times jumping a GP bag I would see stars when I got the opening shock. That was the difference in planes, now they jump prop jets with no ill effects. I don't know what kind of chutes they use now, but the last time I was at Bragg , about two years ago they still opened like the T-10. When we jump at night, the pilots would run
the engines rich on fuel. Sitting in the plane waiting to jump you could
see a long streak of fire going down both sides of the plane . It looked
kind of erie and made you wonder if you were going to get in it,
but we never did.
BUT COME TO THINK OF IT. = " IT ALWAYS
WAS !!!"
There are 3 different chutes used today: the
most popular is the T-10C; the other two MC1-1B and the MC-1C are both
steerable chutes. The opening shocks on all of these chutes are negligible,
you hardly even feel it.
Rates of Descent. Depending on the jumper's total weight and relative air density, the average rates of descent for the different canopies are as follows: MC-1B, 18 to 22 feet per second; MC1-1C, 14 to 18 feet per second; and T-10C, 19 to 23 feet per second. Diameter. Nominal diameter is 35 feet (measured 3 feet up from the skirt) and 24.5 feet at the skirt. Anti-inversion nets. The anti-inversion net
is sewn 18 inches down on each suspension line and is made of 3 3/4-inch
square mesh, knotless, braided nylon.
Repacking. Both canopies are repacked every
120 days.Use.
MC-1B characteristics. The MC-1B has an estimated
8.8 sec turn rate.
MC1-1C characteristics this canopy has the
same basic design as the MC1-1B with the following exceptions:
T-10C characteristics 30 suspension lines are
25 ft 6 in long
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