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US Military Gliders and Glider Pilots in World War II

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Date: 1920 to 1946
Location: worldwidemap
Surnames/tags: world_war_II US_ Army_Air_Corps
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Military gliders were used in both theaters of World War II by several nations to carry troops (glider infantry) and heavy equipment to a combat zone, They were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes or bombers. Piloting a glider required enormous courage. Upon landing, glider pilots either joined combat units or grouped together at rendezvous points for return to friendly territory. Gliders played an essential part in several major actions in the war.

Contents

Background: development and deployment of combat gliders

Russian, German and British military gliders

Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Germany was prohibited from constructing certain high-powered airplanes, so German aircraft designers developed unpowered aircraft, and by 1922 they took part in a national glider competition. in which the soaring glide time was the basis for scoring, This sporting use was supplanted both in the Soviet Union and in Germany by military applications, e.g., the training of pilots. and in 1932, the Soviet Union developed the first glider that could be used for cargo, the TsK Komsula. Larger gliders were then developed By 1934, the Soviet Union had ten gliding schools and 57,000 glider pilots had gained licenses..[1] Colonel Kurt Student of the newly-reconstituted German Luftwaffe visited Moscow and reported back to his superiors in Berlin the large transport gliders that he had seen..As a result, in 1937, the Luftwaffe opened a parachute school and Student felt that a vehicle was needed to deliver heavy weapons to lightly armed parachute troops. By 1938 Student had become a major-general and Inspector of Airborne Forces and oversaw the development of a troop-carrying glider the DFS 230 which could carry 9–10 fully equipped troops or 1,200 kg (2,800 pounds). With this aircraft, the Germans were the first to use gliders in warfare, most famously during the assault of the Eben Emael fortress in Belgium and the capture of the bridges over the Albert Canal at Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven and Kanne on May 10, 1940, in which 41 DFS 230 gliders carrying 10 soldiers each were launched behind Junkers Ju 52s. Ten gliders landed on the grassed roof of the fortress. Only twenty minutes after landing the force had neutralized the fortress at a cost of six dead and twenty wounded. Hitler was anxious to gain maximum publicity and so several foreign attachés were given guided tours of the fortress. Consequently, the British, American and Japanese became quickly aware of the methods that had been used.. By mid-1940, both Japan and Britain had active glider programs. Gliders were also used by Germany in Greece in 1941. Student then convinced Hitler that Crete could be captured using only airborne troops. During the capture of the island, 5,140 German airborne troops were either killed or wounded out of the 13,000 sent.and 350 German planes were destroyed, which seriously depleted the force needed for the invasion of the Soviet Union shortly after. As a result, Hitler vowed never to use his airborne force in such large numbers again..[2] British glider development began in mid-1940, prompted by the German assault on Eben Emael. The 28 troopers Airspeed Horsa and the 7-ton capacity Hamilcar cargo glider.were both developed at this time. The Hamilcar could carry vehicles, anti-tank guns and light tanks into action. Another glider Hotspur –was used for training the British Army pilots who formed the Glider Pilot Regiment. 3,600 Horsas were built . The most famous British actions using gliders included the unsuccessful Operation Freshman, against a German heavy water plant in Norway in 1942; and 'Pegasus Bridge' the capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges in a coup-de-main operation at the very start of the invasion of Normandy.[3] Other glider actions included Operation Dragoon (the invasion of southern France), Operation Market Garden (the landing at Arnhem Bridge to try and seize a bridgehead over the lower Rhine) and Operation Varsity (crossing of the Rhine). Out of the 2,596 gliders dispatched for Operation Market Garden, 2,239 were effective in delivering men and equipment to their designated landing zones.

American military gliders

Major General Henry "Hap" Arnold, Acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air (becoming Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces on March 9, 1942), initiated a study with a view to developing a glider capable of being towed by aircraft. This directive was set into motion in early 1941), authorizing the procurement of 2-, 8-, and 15-place gliders and equipment. Eleven companies were invited to participate in the experimental glider program, but only four responded with any interest, Frankfort Sailplane Company (XCG-1, XCG-2), Waco Aircraft Company (XCG-3, XCG-4), St. Louis Aircraft Corp. (XCG-5, XCG-6), and Bowlus Sailplanes (XCG-7, XCG-8). Only Waco Aircraft Company was able to deliver the experimental glider prototypes that satisfied the requirements. Tthe eight-seat Waco CG-3 (modified to become a production nine-seat glider) and the fifteen-seat Waco CG-4. In October 1941, Lewin B. Barringer was made Glider Specialist, Air Staff, HQ of the Army Air Forces, answering to General Arnold, and placed in charge of the glider program. The shock of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 prompted the United States to set the number of glider pilots needed at 1,000 to fly 500 eight-seat gliders and 500 fifteen-seat gliders. The number of pilots required was increased to 6,000 by June 1942..[4] After Barringer was lost at sea on a flight to Africa in January 1943, the program came under direction of Richard C. du Pont.[5]Bigger gliders, such as the 30-troop Waco CG-13A and the 42-troop Laister-Kauffman CG-10A were designed later.[6] The most widely used type was the Waco CG-4A, which was first used in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and participated in the D-Day assault on France on 6 June 1944, and in other important airborne operations in Europe, including Operation Market Garden in September 1944 and the crossing the Rhine in March 1945, and in the China-Burma-India Theater. The CG-4A was constructed of a metal and wood frame covered with fabric, manned by a crew of two and with an allowable normal cargo load of 3,710 lb allowing it to carry 13 combat-equipped troops or a jeep or small artillery piece. The CG-10 could hold 10,850 lb of cargo, such as two howitzers, at a time. The final glider mission of the war was at Luzon on 23 June 1945. By the end of the war, the United States had built 14,612 gliders of all types and had trained over 6,000 glider pilots. The designs of the Waco Aircraft Company were also produced by a wide variety of manufacturers including Ford Motor Company and Cessna Aircraft Company as well as furniture, piano and coffin manufacturers..[7] Following World War II, the United States maintained only one regiment of gliders. Gliders were used in military exercises in 1949, but glider operations were deleted from the United States Army′s capabilities on 1 January 1953.[8]However, the United States Air Force continues to use sailplanes at the United States Air Force Academy to train cadets in the fundamentals of flight.[9]

American Glider pilots

recruitment

After Pearl Harbor, the Army Air Corps put forth an effort to recruit pilots of powered aircraft (fighters, bombers, transports). Candidates were between the ages of 18 and 22, with at least one year of college and uncorrected vision. When the need for glider pilots was later established and quotas set, these criteria were relaxed such that older men aspiring to contribute to the war effort by flying were recruited into the glider program [10]

training

New recruits were sworn in as enlisted men at local Army recruiting offices, then further intake processed at nearby Army bases (e.g., March Field, Riverside, CA and Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, CA for recruits from southern California). This included physical exams, IQ tests, issuance of uniforms, job skill classifications, etc. The first component of flight training followed. It was deadstick gliding in small Taylor monoplanes with engines removed, at one of the 22 preliminary flight schools (e.g., Twentynine Palms, CA, Wickenberg, AZ, Big Spring, TX,). Promotions in rank resulted from good performance, and those who mastered deadstick flying were ready to move on to gliders. This took place at the Elementary Advanced (or primary glider) schools (e.g., Amarillo, TX, Waco, TX, Lockbourne, OH, Fort Sumner, NM, George Air Base, Victorville, CA), The men graduated from this training as "Flight Officers:", a newly-created rank, and received their glider pilot (G) wings. So many did so that by early 1943, there weren't enough assigments for all of them. This led to the addition of a period of combat training at e.g., Bowman Field, KY and Fort MaCall, NC. By late 1943, these flight officers were all formally assigned to Army Air Corps units and located at Pope Field, Fort Bragg, NC as a staging area for deployment in Europe. [11][12]

organization

in the European Theater of operations (ETO) glider pilots operated within 'Troop carrier units" according to an overall hierarchy of personnel groupings as exemplified by the llowing: US glider pilots were all members of the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) which consisted of 22 "Air Forces", one of which was the 9th Air Force, in turn constituted by some 29 combat units or "Commands", for example the IX Troop Carrier Command (IX TCC). The IX TCC was made up of 3 "Wings" (comparable to Divisions in land-based units), one of which was the 50th Troop carrier Wing, consisting of 4 "Groups", one of which was the 439th Troop Carrier Group, consisting of 4 squadrons e.g., 94th Troop Carrier Squadron, each one of which contained 12 gliders. [13]

action

U.S. and British doctrine made assault glider operations an integral part of the paratroop infantry, but the glider infantry did not wear parachutes. They rode their gliders to the ground and into battle. [14]

“Imagine flying a flimsy, unarmed, fabric -covered CG-4A glider loaded with infantrymen, cartons of high explosive ammunition, gasoline and TNT at treetop level, through a murderous barrage of heavy flack to crash land in a tiny field surrounded by 80-foot trees, flooded and planted with big anti-glider poles and deadly land mines. Then, as you crawl out of the wreckage of your glider you are charged by big tanks and hostile enemy forces tossing hand grenades and firing small arms, mortar and machine gun fire at you…. It’s like flying a stick of dynamite through the gates of hell."[15]

Gliders During the Sicily Campaign

The first large Allied airborne assault with gliders and paratroops was during the Sicily Campaign in July 1943. It did not go well. After flying 450 miles in tow from bases in North Africa, anti-aircraft fire, some of it friendly; haze; clouds; smoke from previous attacks; and fierce winds that whipped up sand and obscured visibility contributed to a military disaster for the glider pilots and their troops. In one tragic incident, American and British tow planes released 65 fighting gliders too early. The gliders carried men of the First Air Landing Brigade and they landed in the sea and more than 250 drowned. Eventually Sicily fell to the Allies but casualties numbered more than 20,000.[16]

Gliders in Burma

To help supply Brig. Gen. Ord Wingate’s irregular force of Chindit special operations units in their campaign to battle the Japanese army in Burma and reopen the Burma Road linking India and China, President Roosevelt ordered General Arnold to form a small air force called the 1st Air Commando Group. Arnold selected Col. Philip C. Cochran to command the unit. Starting in March 1944, Waco CG-4A gliders landed troops, ammunition, medical supplies, and even mules to supply Wingate’s troops deep in the jungle. Some gliders carried three mules plus a soldier ordered to shoot the first mule that broke loose inside the glider. Very few mules misbehaved. In one of three main phases of the campaign, 36 of 68 gliders that were launched failed to reach their LZ but overall, the operation succeeded in moving more than 9,000 Chindit fighters 165 miles behind Japanese lines. The Allied forces also used twin-engine transports to snatch up gliders filled with wounded soldiers and fly them back to hospitals.[17]

Gliders on D-Day

The Allies used fighting gliders to land infantry, arms, and supplies during the Invasion of Normandy, France, in June 1944. Gen. Omar Bradley planned to drop paratroops and fighting gliders carrying infantry and equipment about 6-10 miles behind the German lines east of Utah Beach beginning the night of June 5. The goal was to support the 4th Infantry Division during their amphibious landings at Utah Beach by capturing four causeways leading inland. Despite effective anti-aircraft fire and the difficulty that some tow planes had reaching the correct drop points, the air assault achieved most of its objectives.[18]

Gliders in Operation Dragoon

In August 1944, the Allies launched Operation Dragoon to liberate the port cities of Toulouse and Marseille in southern France. Heavy fog made it difficult to land some gliders, but losses overall were light. [19],

Gliders in Operation Market-Garden.

It began September 17, 1944, and ended on September 25. The glider and airborne troops had to fly 300 miles from bases in England to landing zones (LZs) 64 miles behind German lines and near the towns of Eindhoven and Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Initially, the glider pilots succeeded in landing in or near the planned LZs, but German forces in the area were considerably larger and better equipped than expected. The glider and airborne soldiers had been set on a rigid schedule to capture and hold nine vital bridges that would allow British ground forces approaching from the south to reinforce them. Meeting these objectives also depended on timely resupply drops from the air. Bad weather and a cascading series of other delays allowed the Germans to hold key bridges at Arnhem and ultimately cut off the British ground force before it could get close enough to help. The strategic objective, securing a Rhine River crossing, and perhaps finishing the war by December 1944, failed. Nonetheless, the initial assault with gliders was successful. [20]

Gliders at the Battle of the Bulge

Two months later on December 26, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, 11 CG-4A gliders landed inside the 101st Airborne Division perimeter around Bastogne, Belgium, to deliver medical staff, gasoline, and artillery ammunition. Fifty more gliders arrived the next day. In March 1945, two gliders landed inside the Allied bridgehead on the German side of the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany. Once they were loaded with 36 wounded soldiers, twin-engine transports snatched them off the ground and into the air and towed the two Wacos to a field hospital in France.[21]

Gliders in Operation Varsity

Operation Varsity, which took place on March 24, 1945, was the largest airborne operation ever conducted in one day. To support Gen. Bernard Montgomery’s army as it crossed the Rhine, more than 21,000 glider infantry and paratroopers landed on the German side of the river in one day to engage German forces that might impede the army’s crossing. Six hundred and ten C-47 transports towed 906 Waco gliders (some transports towed more than 1 glider). The entire armada of airborne forces, including British units and aircraft, stretched 200 miles. The Allies lost more men and gliders during Varsity than any other wartime airborne operation, in part because landings were attempted in broad daylight, which made the gliders easy targets for German anti-aircraft batteries.[22]

Gliders in the Pacific

American army units in the Pacific Theater used gliders, but never in large numbers. In October 1944, four gliders landed in Hidden Valley, New Guinea, to set up a weather station and emergency airstrip in the Owen Stanley Mountains. The gliders landed men and supplies that were used to hack an airstrip out of the jungle large enough for C-47 transports to use. The weather station continued operating until the end of the war. At the end of the campaign to drive the Japanese out of the Philippines, six CG-4As and a CG-13 glider air assaulted the Camalaniugan Airfield at the northern tip of Luzon Island, Philippines, in June 1945.

Gliders Post-World War II

During World War II, U.S. companies built 14,612 gliders and the U.S. military trained more than 6,000 pilots to fly them. Paratroops still jump today from airplanes into battle, but the fighting gliders never saw combat again after the war ended. Their place in the evolution of warfare is nevertheless quite important. The fighting gliders showed military planners the potential advantages of filling special-purpose aircraft with troops and equipment and landing them behind enemy frontlines. Today this is called ‘vertical envelopment’ and another technology, introduced in the last months of the war, became the ultimate instrument of vertical envelopment: the helicopter. [23]

Sources

  1. Devlin, Gerald M. (1985). Silent Wings. W. H. Allen & Co. ISBN 0-491-03134-3.
  2. Green, William (1972). War Planes of the Second World War. Vol. One: Fighters (10th impression ed.). Macdonald & Co. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-356-01445-2.
  3. Ambrose, SE, Pegasus Bridge,Simon & Schuster, New York, 2016
  4. Green, William (1972). War Planes of the Second World War. Vol. One: Fighters (10th impression ed.). Macdonald & Co. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-356-01445-2.
  5. Giant Glider." Popular Science, February 1945, p. 85, article mid-page.
  6. Henry, Mark R; Chappele, Michael ‘Mike’ (2000), The US Army in World War II, vol. 2. The Mediterranean, Osprey, p. 13.
  7. Academy, US: Air Force, archived from the original on 22 July 2011, retrieved 14 February 2011.
  8. Green, William (1972). War Planes of the Second World War. Vol. One: Fighters (10th impression ed.). Macdonald & Co. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-356-01445-2.
  9. Guttman, Robert, "Flying-Boat Gliders," Aviation History, September 2016, p. 13.
  10. Lt Henry R Benefiel [Benefiel-155] oral history, recorded by his son Michael Bissell-Benefiel [Bissell-517] in CasaGrande, AZ, Nov, 1985
  11. Grim JN, To Fly the Gentle Giants: the training of US WWII glider pilots, AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2009
  12. Lt Henry R Benefiel [Benefiel-155] oral history, recorded by his son Michael Bissell-Benefiel [Bissell-517] in CasaGrande, AZ, Nov, 1985
  13. Maurer Maurer (ed.), Air Force Combat Units of World War II, Chartwell, Edison NJ, 1994
  14. Lee, Russell "Fighting Gliders of World War II" National Air and Space Museum 2020 https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/fighting-gliders-world-war-ii
  15. Keys, Ed "The Forgotten Heroes", VFW Magazine, August 1985
  16. Lynch, T,Silent Skies: the glider war 1939-1945, Pen and Sword,Books, South Yorkshire, UK, 2008, pp47-59
  17. Mrazek, JE, The Glider War, St Martin's Press, New York, 1985, pp. 110-128.
  18. Young, CH, Into the Valley: the untold story of USAAF Troop Carrier in World War II, Print Comm, Dallas, TX, 1995, pp. 73-185
  19. Breuer, WB, Operation Dragoon: allied invasion of the south of France, Presidio Press, Novato, cA, 1996
  20. McManus, JC, September Hope: the American side of a Bridge too Far, NAL Caliber Press, New York, 2012
  21. Lowden,JL, Silent Wings at War: combat gliders in World War II, Smithsonian Press, Washington DC, 1992, pp.118-131
  22. Wright, SL, The Last Drop: Operation Varsity March 24-25-, 1945,Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2008, pp.290-298
  23. Lee, Russell "Fighting Gliders of World War II" National Air and Space Museum 2020 https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/fighting-gliders-world-war-ii




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Waco CG4A glider
Waco CG4A glider

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