FORT CAMPBELL --- Colonel Norman E. Tipton of Rock Hill, S C., has been named commander of the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, succeeding Colonel Glenn J. McGowan, reassigned here as deputy post commander/
   Colonel Tipton will assume command on or about January 21.
   The new commander of Fort Campbell's  "Red Devil" paratroop unit is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, Class of 1931, the National War College, the Air War College, The Command and General Staff College,  the Infantry School, and the Chemical Corps School.
   He is a veteran paratrooper and served with the 11th Airborne Division In the New Guinea, Leyte, and Luzon campaigns, World War II.
   Tipton's command is slated for transfer to Japan next summer in the opening phase at Operation  GYROSCOPE, the Army's new unit rotation plan.

[The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, TN, 18 Jan 1955, Tue, Page 4]

15 C-124's Land at Air Base In Japan During En Masse Transpacific Airlift
Going Smoothly, Report Says

    Ashiya Air Base, Japan, July 11 (Monday) (AP) More than a third of America's first regiment of paratroops ever to fly the Pacific en masse were in Japan today, awed and enthusiastic about history's longest troop lift.
   By early morning 15 giant C-124 Globemasters had brought some 1,350 men of the 508th Airborne Regiment here from the United States. Twenty-eight more of the massive transports, spaced across the Pacific all the way back to Fort Campbell, Ky., were on their way with 2,650 others.
    Everything was reported going smoothly, except that varying weather along the 9,000-mile route shortened or lengthened the 2-hour intervals at which the planes left Kentucky. Sometimes there were gaps as long as 4 hours between arriving planes. At other times two Globemasters roared in within 30 minutes.
   "We have proved the feasibility of moving troops rapidly from the U. S. to any part of the world," said Brigadier General Roy E. Lindquist.
   His 187th Airborne Regiment will be history's second to fly the Pacific en masse. The 187th, which fought in Korea, is scheduled to start streaming back to America tomorrow aboard the same planes now hauling out the 508th.
   "This is one of the finest ideas the Army has developed," said Capt. Frank L. Garrison, Lawton, Okla., commander of the paratroops aboard the 15th Globemaster to roar in from America.
   "I sure think this beats a 20-day boat trip anyway you look at it," said Pvt. Robert J. Peak, Stockton, Cal., one of the paratroops. After the airlift the 508th is moving by rail into camps Chickamauga, Wood, and Kashii, in different parts of Kyushu, Japan's southern main island.

[The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, Mon, Jul 11, 1955, Page 2]

ITAZUKE AIR BASE, Japan (AP) --- The big turn-around began Tuesday in history's longest and biggest airlift.
   Operation Gyroscope still bringing in approximately 90 troops of the 508th Regiment Combat Team from Ft. Campbell, Ky. every two hours in giant C124 Globemaster transport, began lifting the same number of rotating troops on the homeward hop.
   The departing outfit is the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, which began leaving Tuesday morning from this southern Japan base for Ft. Bragg, NC.
   Emphasizing the speed at which large numbers of troops move around the world these days, the 187th is scheduled to make a practice parachute jump at Ft. Bragg only 58 hours after departing here.  The men will transfer to a C119 Flying Boxcar for the drop, the Army said.
   The 187th is the famous "Angels from Hell" combat team of World War II and Korean war fame.  It has been in the Far East for five years.   [The Daily Chronicle. Centralia, WA, 12 Jul 1955, Tue, Page 7]

Coming In
unidentified 508ers peer out of C-124 as they land at Wake Island to refuel.  Next stop ... Japan!

[courtesy of Mel Echelberger]