Paris Island, South Carolina, May 1941. U.S. Marine Corps student glider pilots preparing for a training flight in their Schweizer 2-place sailplane, The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps designated this glider the LNS-1. In the U.S. Army it was known as a TG-2. U.S. Marine Corps |
The U.S. Navy's 2-place (side-by-sideseating) Pratt-Read
LNE-1 training glider. Pratt-read built 100 of these sleek sailplanes
during World-War II. Seventy-three or them were transferred to the
U.S. Army where they were redesignated as TG-32 training gliders.
Vintage Sailplane Association
|
February 1942, Wright Field, Ohio. Sodiers from Fort Benning's 29th infantry debark from a CG-3A, the first large troop-carryng glider devoleped by the United States. This method of debarkation undoubtedly was very hard on the ankles or the passengers. Only 100 CG-3As had been built when the U.S. Army adopted the larger CG-4A glider which had side exit doors for passengers and pilots. U.S. Army |
Major Frederick R. Dent. Jr., the first chief of glider development and procurement for the U.S. Army Air Force, in front cockpit of Schweizer TG-2 training glider. U.S. Air Force CG-4A gliders under construction. The fragile CG-4A glider had no
protective armour as did all other combat aircraft, n machine guns
for self-defence, and only a thin outer skin made on canvas, Yet they
were used in great numbers in nearly every major Allied Invasion during
World War II. U.S. Air Force |
Faced with a critical shortage of training gliders in 1942, the U.S. Government converted hundreds of 2-place powered airplanes in to 3-place gliders by replacing the engine with another pilot's seat and controls. Shown here is (top) the Aeronica Defender after its conversion into the TG-5 glider; (centre) a Taylorcraft Tandum Trainer that has been converted into the TG-6; and (bottom) a Piper Cub modified into a TG-8 glider. Aeronica Aircraft Corp. |
A GC-4° glider coming in for a test landing with a 10-foot nylon drag parachute serving as a giant air brake. Parachutes enabled gliders to land more quickly on small fields. They were used extensively during landings in Europe. This test glider is also equipped with a Griswold Nose. U.S. Air Force |
June 28, 1942, Washington D.C. The German-born film star, Marlene Dietrich, smiles at Sergeant William T. Sampson II from the cockpit of a glider. A few hours after this picture was taken, Sampson was presented the first pair of glider pilot wings ever to be awarded to U.S. Army glider pilot. William T. Sampson |