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Military gliders built by the military of various countries were used for carrying troops and heavy equipment, mainly during the Second World War. Military gliders were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes eg DC-3 Dakota, or obsolete bombers, eg. Short Stirling. The aircraft were effectively used for only a single flight, though a few were retrieved and re-used.
Troops landing by glider were referred to as air-landing as opposed to paratroops. Gliders could land troops in greater concentrations than by parachute since the troops would not be spread out. They could also be more precise in their target landing area. Furthermore, the glider, once released at some distance from the actual target, was effectively silent and difficult for the enemy to identify. Larger gliders were developed to land heavy equipment like anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns and small vehicles like jeeps and also light tanks (the Tetrarch tank). This heavier equipment made otherwise lightly-armed paratroop forces a much more capable force. The Soviets also experimented with ways to deliver light tanks by air, including the Antonov A-40, a gliding tank with detachable wings.
By the time of the Korean War, helicopters had replaced gliders. Helicopters have the advantage of being able to extract soldiers, in addition to delivering them to the battlefield. Also, advances in powered transport aircraft were being made, such to the extent that even light tanks could be dropped by parachute. Eventually, powered aircraft were also able to land and take-off from even rudimentary landing strips.
German military gliders
The Germans were the first to use gliders in warfare, most famously during the assault of the Eben Emael fortress in May 10, 1940 in which DFS 230 gliders carrying 10 soldiers each landed on the grassed roof. Gliders were also used in the invasion of Crete. Perhaps the success at Eben Emael had raised false hopes because of the 15,000 German airborne troops that landed by glider and parachute; 5,000 were killed or wounded. As a result, there was a curtailing of glider and parachute operations, although some glider operations continued, some examples being the rescue of Benito Mussolini at Gran Sasso and the emergency re-supply operations in Russia, North Africa and Eastern Europe towards the end of the war. Regardless, the Germans never attempted another large-scale glider and parachute attack. However, they later developed the larger Gotha Go 242 (23 trooper) and the very large Messerschmitt Me 321 (130 troopers) gliders.
British military gliders
The use of assault gliders by the British was prompted by the assault on Eben Emael. Among the types developed were the 28 trooper Airspeed Horsa and the 7 ton capacity General Aircraft Hamilcar cargo glider. The General Aircraft Hotspur was used for training the pilots who formed the Glider Pilot Regiment. The most famous actions were the taking of the Pegasus Bridge during the invasion of Normandy, Operation Dragoon (the invasion of southern France), Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) and Operation Varsity (Crossing of the Rhine). Out of the 2,596 gliders dispatched for Operation Market Garden, 2,239 gliders were effective in delivering men and equipment to their designated landing zones.
Gliders are still used in the Royal Air Force for cadet training by the Air Training Corps. They are not used in combat operations, and no troop-carrying gliders have been in British service since 1957.
Lord Gilbert, defence minister of state formally responsible for intelligence during the Kosovo War, told the House of Commons Select Committee on Defence on 20 June 2000 that gliders could have been used to land troops in Kosovo. Neither Lord Gilbert nor the other politicians present appeared to be aware that this would have been impossible.
American military gliders
General "Hap" Arnold in United States War Department created the American Glider Program in 1941 under the direction of Lewin B. Barringer. After Barringer's plane disappeared over the Caribbean Sea, the program was moved to Army Air Force Headquarters and directed by Richard C. du Pont.
By late 1944, the Americans built more than 10,500 gliders. They were produced by a wide variety of manufacturers ranging from Ford Motor Company and piano companies to casket factories.
The most widely used type was the CG-4 Hadrian which was first used in the invasion of Sicily and participated in the D-Day assault on France on June 6 1944, and in other important airborne operations in Europe 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 cargo load of 3,750 pounds, allowing it to carry 13 combat-equipped troops or a jeep or small artillery piece.
Following World War II, the United States maintained its military glider program until the early 1950s before dropping it completely from operational use. However, the United States Air Force continues to this day to use gliders at the Air Force Academy to train cadets in the fundamentals of flight.
See also
External links
- Glider Pilot Regiment - regiments.org entry, with history and more web links
- The Assault Glider Trust
"Military glider"