XBradTC

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XBradTC

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The Waco CG-4A

The airborne divisions of the US Army in World War II were certainly glamorous, and even today are popular subjects of entertainment, as witnessed by the spectacular success of HBO’s Band of Brothers miniseries. But when the 82nd and 101st divisions were first converted from infantry divisions to airborne divisions, they each only had one…

The airborne divisions of the US Army in World War II were certainly glamorous, and even today are popular subjects of entertainment, as witnessed by the spectacular success of HBO’s Band of Brothers miniseries.

But when the 82nd and 101st divisions were first converted from infantry divisions to airborne divisions, they each only had one regiment of parachute infantry. The other two regiments in the division organization were glider infantry. And of course, the division artillery couldn’t be airdropped, so it too was gliderborne.

And unlike parachute infantry, glider infantry wasn’t a volunteer outfit. For that matter, for a long time, they didn’t get jump pay, or even wear the special uniform that the parachute guys wore.

Eventually, before the invasion of Normandy, the organization of the divisions would see two parachute regiments and one glider infantry regiment.

Training infantry to become glider troops was somewhat simpler than parachute training, but there was more to it than simply sitting down and going for a ride.

The primary mount of US glider infantry was the Waco CG-4A, a simple (but not crude) glider of tubular steel, wood, and fabric construction.  Useful load was the two pilots and 13 troops, or a jeep, or a 75mm pack howitzer.

Waco was the designer of the CG-4A, but like many WWII aircraft, production was undertaken by several companies. We find it rather amusing that of the nearly 14,000 built, some 1000 were built by Gibson Refrigerator.

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Responses to “The Waco CG-4A”

  1. Esli

    Take a trip to Normandy and be thoroughly impressed with the gliders. Especially seeing where the Brit gliders landed at Pegasus Bridge. The airborne museum has a great glider on display. Lots of cool aerial shots of fields full of US gliders in various states of being wrecked in the hedgerows, too.

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  2. timactual

    Jeez. Ropes, planks, pipes, and 2 X 4s. I wonder what would happen if you tried that on a CH-47 or a C-17. Probably give the loadmaster or crewchief a heart attack.

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  3. Dan

    I read somewhere that a lot of farmers bought the surplus gliders after the war. They then threw away the gliders, and turned the shipping crates they came in into chicken coops. Have you ever heard that?

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  4. Quartermaster

    I had a friend, now deceased, that had been in the C-47 training pipeline when an instructor came into the classroom one morning and told the class they were all going to gliders. At that point, they were regarded as ready and sent on to start rehearsing.
    Before he got to England, he managed to trade his shoulder holster pistol for a pistol belt holster. He said when they landed you didn’t stick around the glider and start unloading. You ran for the tree line and waited to see if you had been spotted. If not, then you went back to unload the stuff you flew in.
    Alas, he didn’t tie the thong at the end of his holster around his thigh and it caught on the seat as he was trying to get out of the glider. The way he told the story, it was funny. I’m sure that was only in retrospect.

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  5. George V

    OK, now I am even more impressed by the WWII glider crews. With the cargo tied down (as said above by timactual) by manila rope to the glider frame, I wonder how many pilots were killed by a jeep crashing into them when they hit a ditch or other hidden obstacle on landing.
    Methinks the motto of the Wild Weasel pilots in Vietnam (YGBSM)originated with the first men assigned as airborne glider pilots when told of their new job.

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  6. Tinclad

    On 1 Aug 1943 a CG-4 crashed at St Louis’ Lambert Field killing the Mayor of St Louis, who was taking a demo ride along with five other civilian business men (including William Robertson, President of Robertson aircraft, who’d built the glider) and three Army men. A bolt failure led to separation of the right wing at 2000’ in front of a crowd of on-lookers.

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  7. Xbradtc

    Dan, Wiki mentions the shipping cases. Many also used the fuselage for coops or sheds.
    As to the tie down, it seems ropes were usually sufficient. The Assistant Division Commander of the 101st Airborne, BG Don Pratt was killed in a glider crash at Normandy, when the glider hit a hedgerow. He was sitting in a jeep, and suffered a broken neck from whiplash, but the jeep did not break loose.
    Pratt was the senior US officer killed in the invasion.

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  8. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Tinclad – there’s a picture of that load of dignitaries sitting in the glider before the ill fated flight and lo and behold they are all wearing “seat” model parachutes… A nod to you finding that small piece of glider history.

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  9. jon spencer

    Here is a link to a small museum where I live,
    http://www.menomineemuseum.com/glider.htm

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  10. Don McCollor

    …there is a good book “The Glider Gang” by Milton Dark (1977)describing the C4 exploits…

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  11. Don McCollor

    …and the most scary one must have been glider recovery in the CBI theater…a glider on the ground would have a loop at the end of the tow rope slung between two thin poles…a C47 would come in low and slow at twenty feet to hook the loop…then open the throttles wide and yank it into the air…

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  12. timactual

    We used to use wire cables to tie down APCs and such for rail movement (coal burning locomotive, incidentally). The cables were strong enough but the damn wire rope clips kept slipping. Couldn’t get them tight enough with the tools we had. Interesting experience, though, moving a mech unit by rail.
    One time we had to send an APC to depot maintenance by truck. They didn’t have a lowboy available, so they sent some poor wretch with a flatbed. We would tie spend an hour tying that track down and then the driver would test the rigging with a (very) brief acceleration and braking. It took almost all day to get it right, so that the cables didn’t slip and let the APC run over its chocks. It was a very nervous and careful driver who finally drove away with that 12(?) ton M113 looking over his shoulder.

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  13. SCOTTtheBADGER

    When my then 10 year old nephew discovered WACO gliders, I had to track down the Italeari kit for him.

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