Construction of parachute packing sheds at Gordonvale for

the US 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment

began in February 1943. Two packing sheds were built in Norman Park on the present site of Nos. 1 and 2 tennis courts of the Gordonvale and District Tennis Association. The sheds were constructed with towers at each end where the parachutes could be hung up to dry before folding and assembly. Between the towers were 15 sets of packing tables where the parachute packers worked in pairs, one on each side of a table. The men in the packing sheds called them the 'Parabelles'. On one occasion towards the end of June 1943 as the number of exercise jumps increased, they packed 700 'assemblies' in three days.

Most of the remainder of Norman Park was taken over by a large tent encampment of US Army parachute maintenance men. Only t

he concrete slab floor of the packing shed has withstood the test of time. After the war it became the playing surface for tennis courts Nos. 1 and 2 of the Gordonvale and District Tennis Association. The No.1 court was resurfaced in 1978 but the surface of the No.2 court is still the original packing shed floor.