# Paratroops...in WW1? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854 "2014-07-11T14:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/1 "2014-07-11T14:50:26Z")
Reading up on the history of airborne infantry, the concept was apparently brought up in the [latter years of World War 1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_forces#Early_history), with Churchill (who loved wacky ideas no matter who practical they were) proposing that men should be dropped behind German lines in 1917, the Americans also planned to drop elements of the Big Red 1 near Metz in 1919, but the war ended first. Given what we know about the technology and training available at the time, if the Allies had attempted a combat drop behind the German trench lines what would be the most likely outcome? Are we talking an absolute bloodbath we were fortunate to avoid, or a breakthrough strategy? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/2 "2014-07-11T15:20:57Z")
Besides Air Mail planes that held one guy and a sack, did any cargo planes even exist during WW1 that could carry paratroopers? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/3 "2014-07-11T15:37:32Z")
I imagine you could make up for a lack of cargo planes by just using a bunch of those little single engine bi-planes they had back then. A few hundred planes + one paratrooper each would be just as effective as one cargo plane carrying a few hundred soldiers. It probably would have been a bloodbath at first, as they worked out the kinks, but airborne troops ended up being a good resource in later wars, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t have helped greatly had they been utilized in WWI. Could have shaken up the trench warfare stalemate at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/4 "2014-07-11T15:38:40Z")
England had the [Handley Page V/1500](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_V/1500) bomber which carried 7500lbs of bombs. Substitute 10 crazy men with parachutes riding on the wings of each plane and, viola, airborne troops! ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/5 "2014-07-11T16:02:29Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > England had the [Handley Page V/1500](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_V/1500) bomber which carried 7500lbs of bombs. Substitute 10 crazy men with parachutes riding on the wings of each plane and, viola, airborne troops! Ten 750 pound men? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/6 "2014-07-11T16:18:27Z")
Parachutes were used in WWI ([video of observation balloonist bailing out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23xvTNtu0wA)). I could see the Italians being the early-adapters for this one. Or Billy Mitchell (although I suspect the Harlem Hellfighters would be chosen as the experimental stick). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/7 "2014-07-11T17:12:03Z")
Early Army flyers were not given parachutes on the grounds that they might be inclined to bail out instead of saving their precious machines; were too bulky; or the high command simply didn’t believe that they were needed, depending on which account you read. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paratroops-in-ww1/692854/8 "2014-07-11T17:25:08Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Besides Air Mail planes that held one guy and a sack, did any cargo planes even exist during WW1 that could carry paratroopers? Many of them. > **[Riesenflugzeug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-planes)** > > A Riesenflugzeug (plural Riesenflugzeuge, German for "giant aircraft"), sometimes colloquially referred to in English as an R-plane, was any member of a class of large World War I German bombers, possessing at least three aircraft engines, although usually four or more engines. These large multi-engine aircraft could fly several hours with larger bomb loads than the smaller Grossflugzeug bombers such as the Gotha G.V. > Some of the earliest Riesenflugzeuge were given G-type designations before ...