Magazine covers with paratroopers

This article is an overview of magazine covers featuring US paratroopers. This did not necessarily mean that the magazines also featured articles related to the cover photo. That was rather the exception, and if it was the case, the pictures inside were usually disappointing. So they now make great collectables for framing, not so much for reading.

I have divided the article into a section for civilian magazines and one for military magazines. All covers have been resized to the same format, but most civilian magazines like “LIFE”, “Collier’s” and “The Saturday Evening Post” were in the same large format. “Yank” was the same format, but “The Infantry Journal” was much smaller. There were some very small format magazines distributed in liberated Europe, such as “U.S.A” and so-called “Pony editions” of civilian magazines, especially for the Armed Forces, like “TIME”.

Civilian Magazines

LIFE, May 12, 1941	LIFE, September 7, 1942	LIFE, August 14, 1944
This must be one of the earliest articles on the new paratroops. Note the Riddell helmet, the T-4 and the M-1928 Thompson.	Gliders, just like paratroops were a new phenomenon in warfare. These are glider pilots and troops in training.	This must be THE best known wartime photograph of a paratrooper. Lt. Kelso C. Horne, platoon leader of 1st Platoon, I Company, 508 PIR in Normandy. Read all about him in “America’s Finest’ by Gary Howard.

LIFE, August 19, 1940	Collier’s, November 20, 1943	Douglas Airview, September 1944
This is the earliest of all magazines on this page. It’s about the parachutists in training. Must be the very beginning.	This is an interesting photograph of paratroopers training with carrier pigeons. Two pigeons are in the first type harness attached to the reserve chute on the lefts and 8 more in a special drop container on the right.	This looks like spray-painted camouflage of an M-1942 jump suit and very well camouflaged face and hands. In the background is a camouflaged parachute canopy.

Saturday Evening Post, September 12, 1942	Liberty, April 22, 1943	Liberty, July 17, 1943
Beautiful painting of paratroops on a practice jump. Is this corporal jumping without a reserve?	Note how this magazine speaks freely of ‘our invasion army’. This was 6 weeks before D-Day. How secret did the Allies really keep their broad intentions?	This title already speaks of post-war jobs for servicemen. In fact, Germany was loosing its dominance in the spring of ’43, but the war was still far from won for the allies.

Minicam Photography October 1944	Time	Facts March 1944
This cover features the same photograph as in the Liberty magazine on the left.	Has airborne General Ridgeley on the cover.	Paratrooper in a ‘posed’ jump from the door of a C-47.

American Legion April 1944	Look November 3, 1942	U.S.A.
I searched a long time for this one. It has a beautiful cover.	I didn’t even know this one existed. Just found it by chance. Inside is a story of the 503rd PIR in training with color photos, which is quite uncommon inside WWII magazines. All troops wear M2 helmets, many with the early cardboard liners.	U.S.A. was an American propaganda publication, distributed in France after the liberation. The cover shows a much used stock-photo of a paratrooper in training. Other issues of U.S.A. exist, but I don’t have those yet.

Illustrated March 13, 1944
Photo of a training jump. Note the pouch on his left hip. I have not been able to identify its purpose. The contents of the magazine provide no further clues.

Military Magazines

Infantry Journal, February 1943	Infantry Journal, October 1943	Screaming Eagle, October 2, 1945
Infantry Journal featured several covers with paratroops. Inside, however, it was a dull professional Army publication.	Another nice cover.	This is a magazine published by the Army in the ETO. The quality of the paper is very bad, so generally these magazines are in poor condition.

Yank, August 1, 1943	Yank, March 24, 1944	Yank, February 18, 1944
The shoulder insignia is that of the Aviation Engineers. Their job was to land their equipment by glider to build or repair captured airstrips (p. 219 America’s Finest, Gary Howard).	Paratrooper in New Guinea.	This is the same cover as before, but this is another edition, which appeared almost a week earlier.

Yank, June 30, 1944	Yank, June 26, 1944	Yank, July 2, 1944
You find this photograph in many books. It’s Ike interviewing members of the 101st Airborne ready to board the aircraft.	This is the same cover as before, but this is the Caribbean edition, which appeared a few days earlier.	Paratrooper boarding C-47 for the invasion of Southern France.

Yank, December 24, 1943	Yank, July 9, 1944
A Yank with Santa jumping alongside a paratrooper. Inside is an interesting full-page article about Belgian Commandos.	Another Yank with paratroops on the cover. Also a picture found in many books of paratroopers handing out ration tins to French civilians.

You can contribute too:
This article describes the magazines that I own or have pictures of, but there are more. You are welcome to contribute with any additional pictures and information you may have.