Friday October 18, 2002
Lubbock
Avalanche Journal
Posted here from source for preservation purposes
PICTURES
The "G" Stands
for Guts
Otto Lyons, a veteran glider pilot, serves as adviser to the board
for the Silent Wings Museum. As a volunteer, he has helped with many
of the museum's
exhibits.
" ... no parachutes, no motors, no second chances..."
Many trained for more than two years for a single mission which
lasted less than 60 seconds. They were the glider pilots of
the U.S. Army Air Force. They said the "G" superimposed on
the middle of their silver wings stood for "guts."
" They said you had to have a lot of guts to fly one of those things," Hal
Robinson, a veteran glider pilot who lives in Lubbock, says of the CG-4A gliders
used in combat during World War II. "There's very little room for error.
Every landing was an emergency landing."
The success of German glider-borne forces in early World War II
catapulted the U.S. Air Corps into a glider program in 1941. The
program would last than a decade, but approximately 6,000 glider
pilots earned their wings; 80 percent of those pilots took advanced
training in CG-4A's at South Plains Army Airfield in Lubbock.
USAAF glider pilots, in concert with U.S. and Allied airborne
forces spearheaded major invasions in Sicily, Europe, the Philippines
and the China-Burma-India Theater, delivering equipment, munitions
and about 30,000 American airborne troops into combat.
One veteran American glider pilot painted a vivid picture of the
stark terror they experienced.
"Imagine flying a motorless, fabric-covered CG-4A glider,
violently bouncing and jerking on a one-inch thick nylon
rope 300 feet back of the C-47 tow plane.
You see the nervous glider infantrymen behind you, some vomiting,
many in prayer, as you hedge-hop along at treetop level
instinctively jumping up in your seat every time you hear bullets
and flak
tearing through the glider. You try not to think about the
explosive aboard.
It's like flying a stick of dynamite through the gates
of Hell."
The role of the glider in combat was unique, said Robinson. Gliders
enabled commanders to put men and munitions in specific areas along
a fighting front or behind enemy lines. It's a role combat helicopters
fill today.
"I think of gliders like the trailer on a semi," he
said. "The job was to carry a payload."
To deliver their loads, glider pilots made low-level approaches
into combat zones. The gliders were towed to the designated area
by a powered plane, usually a C-47, and approached the landing
zone at low altitudes. Once the tow rope was disengaged, the glide
to the ground usually lasted less than a minute.
"It didn't take long," said Robinson. "It's like
a boxer training five years to go one round in the ring."
Hal Robinson, took advanced training at SPAAF and later served as a glider
instructor.
Glider pilots suffered heavy combat losses. Both glider pilots and their gliders
were considered expendable, said Otto Lyons, a veteran pilot who flew a combat
mission during Operation Market Garden over Holland in 1944.
After delivering their payloads, glider pilots sometimes stayed
at the front and fought as infantry or made their solitary way
to a safe location. Glider pilots were issued maps imprinted on
silk fabric as guides.
Glider pilots were unique in that they had no parachutes, no motors
and no second chances. Most volunteered for the glider program
because they loved to fly. Most graduates were given overseas assignments
with troop carrier units.
Glider pilots are a vanishing breed; the Defense Department ended
the military glider program in 1952. Still the role glider pilots
played in military actions during World War II was essential, and
is a story well and rightly told.
CG-4A
The CG-4A glider (C for cargo, G for glider) was the mainstay of the U.S. Army
Air Forces glider arsenal. It was designed by the Waco Aircraft Company of
Troy, Ohio. A total of 13,909 GC-4A gliders were constructed between 1942
and 1945; Ford Motor Company was one of 15 prime contractors.
The CG-4A was not designed to be a thing of beauty. The fuselage
was a welded steel tubing frame covered with fabric. More than
70,000 individual parts made up the CG-4A. It could carry a jeep
or a jeep trailer loaded with combat equipment, a 75mm field piece,
a 105mm anti-tank gun, construction equipment such as small bulldozers,
and troops.
General Specifications:
Wing Span - 83 ft. 8 in.
Length - 48 ft. 4 in.
Height - 12 ft. 7 in.
Weight - 7500 lbs. loaded
Armament - None
Engine - None
Cost - $24,000
Max. towed speed - 150 mph
