Editing Paratrooper (section)

===United States===
[[Image:Paratroopers fsa 8e00223.jpg|thumb|left|WWII U.S. paratroopers]]
In 1930, the U.S. Army experimented with the concept of parachuting three-man heavy-machine-gun teams. Nothing came of these early experiments.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hearst Magazines|title=Popular Mechanics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA566|date=April 1930|publisher=Hearst Magazines|page=566}}</ref>

[[File:Paratrooper Fort Belvoir.jpg|thumbnail|upright|Image representing a U.S. paratrooper at [[Fort Belvoir]], Virginia. Likely ca. 1940–1945]]
The first U.S. airborne unit began as a test platoon formed from part of the [[29th Infantry Regiment (United States)|29th Infantry Regiment]], in July 1940. The platoon leader was [[William T. Ryder|1st Lieutenant William T. Ryder]], who made the first jump on August 16, 1940, at Lawson Field, Fort Benning, Georgia, from a [[B-18 Bolo|B-18 bomber]]. He was immediately followed by Private William N. King, the first enlisted soldier to make a parachute jump.<ref>The first public reports in the United States of testing of the airborne principle by the U.S. Army with paratroopers was in a February 1929 issue of [http://www.popsci.com/results?query=When+the+Sky+Rains+Soldiers Popular Sciences page 55]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} in an article titled "When the Sky Rains Soldiers" which stated ''From three speeding planes over Brooks Fields, San Antonio, Texas, a machine gun, and its crew of three soldiers dropped to earth.'' It was strictly an ad hoc test of principle and not a recognized official airborne unit.</ref>

Although airborne units were not popular with the top U.S. Armed Forces commanders, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] sponsored the concept, and Major General [[William C. Lee]] organized the first paratroop platoon. This led to the Provisional Parachute Group, and then the [[United States Army Airborne Command]]. General Lee was the first commander at the new parachute school at [[Fort Benning]], in west-central [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].

The U.S. Armed Forces regards [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[William C. Lee]] as the father of the Airborne.

The first U.S. combat jump was near Oran, Algeria, in North Africa on November 8, 1942, conducted by elements of the [[509th Parachute Infantry Regiment|2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment]]. For the role of paratroopers in the [[Normandy Landings]] see [[American airborne landings in Normandy]].

'''U.S. Combat Jumps in WWII'''

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* [[Operation Torch]]
* [[Operation Husky]]
* [[Landing at Nadzab|Operation Postern]]
* [[Operation Avalanche]]
* [[Operation Overlord]]
* [[Battle of Noemfoor|Operation Cyclone]]
* [[Operation Dragoon]]
* [[Operation Market Garden]]
* [[Tagaytay#World War II|Operation Shoestring]]
* [[Battle of Corregidor (1945)|Operation Topside]]
* [[Raid at Los Baños]]
* [[Operation Varsity]]
* [[11th Airborne Division (United States)#Southern Luzon and Aparri|Operation Gypsy]]
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