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Rev. 07/19/24

Glider Crews & Operations

History

(Right) 34^th TCS Glider Engineering Officer and glider pilot Charlie Rex (on the right) and the Glider Engineering section in front of a CG-4A Waco glider named ‘Hiya Honey’.. Note the tow line attached at the top of the windscreen. The nose of the Waco was hinged at the top and designed to be opened by a pull-line attached to a jeep. Just visible is the obliquely vertical seam between the nose and the fuselage.

As it exited after landing, the jeep pulled on the line which pulled the lever apparatus seen overhead the cockpit. In practical operations, however, the Waco would often roll forward after an abrupt landing, crushing the nose sufficiently prevent its opening. As it was canvas covered, troops often cut their way through the side, but the jeep would be lost.

(Left) Identification card of Flight Officer Alfred Mallett, glider pilot of the 309^th TCS. Submitted by FO Mallett’s son. (Below) Wreckage of FO Mallett’s glider after crash-landing during Operation Market Garden. The aircraft took hits from Flak and caught fire. FO Mallett was barely able to land the glider before the entire skin burned away. Note the jeep he was carrying still inside. Photo taken from official US Army project to photo-document as many crash sites as possible.

(Above) Lt R. W. Best, glider pilot assigned to the 315th TCG standing in front of 310th TCS c-47s There was not separate “glider” squadron -- gliders were assigned to the various squadrons in the Group.

Recollections from Flight Officer David Trexler, Glider Pilot, 34th Troop Carrier Squadron I always described the treatment of us glider pilots in our squadron as benign neglect. They didn't give us any jobs except once when we were in France. We built some paths with rocks and stuff In England, for heaven's sakes, except for those flights in C-47s occasionally, we didn't do a damn thing. We couldn't be Officer of the Day because we weren't commissioned. We could do damned near anything we wanted. One day, for heaven’s sake, I remember I did 60 straight liberty runs to Leicester. Unless you requested to be put on as a co-pilot, they would use all power pilots. The power pilots that I flew with, they were fully accepting of us as pilots and even let us do landings from the right seat and stuff like that. A lot of those later Troop Carrier units formed in the States went overseas together with their glider pilots. They were absolutely and fully part of their respective squadrons as far as I can determine. That seems to be the case with all those people in the "400" groups, where glider pilots were part and parcel of the units when they were raised. I had a lot of friends in the glider program, and they were absolutely part of their unit. I think particularly in the 315th the glider pilots were replacements. I arrived in September of 1944, and the 315th had been overseas damn near two years. We glider pilots were sort of orphans, probably due to the fact that the 315th never towed gliders in combat.

(Left) Glider troops boarding a CG-4A glider. Glider unit and troop unit not identified.

(Right) Troops seated inside a CG-4A Waco glider, looking forward. Photo was taken for training purposes. (Stock photo – not 315th TCG)

(Left) A c-47 of the 91^st TCS of the 439^th TCG (note the L4 on the nose) ‘snatching’ CG-4A glider from the ground. The glider’s tow line was suspended from two poles flanking the glider. The C-47 mounted with a hook beneath, flew slightly above and between the poles and grabbed the tow line. A dynamic braking drum inside the C-47 allowed the glider to accelerate smoothly, though quickly, to takeoff speed.

(Left) Cockpit of the CG-4, Waco glider

(Right) 310^th’s C-47 ‘Umptey-pooh’, uniquely marked with ‘Tiger Jaws’, as seen from a CG-4A Waco glider in tow during a glider training mission. Barely visible (in the original photo) is the tow line extending behind ‘Umptey-pooh’. C-47s could tow two Waco gliders simultaneously and could also ‘snatch’ a glider from the ground. Although the 315^th trained in towing and snatching, the group never towed gliders in combat.

(Left) View from the cockpit of a CG-4A Waco glider. Note only one glider in tow behind the C-47. C-47s could, and frequently did, tow two Waco gliders.

(Above) A serial of C-47s of the 315^th TCG dropping 41 sticks of the 1^st Polish Airborne Brigade into Graves, Holland, on September 23, 1944, D+6 of Operation Market Garden. Sticks averaged 18 paratroopers. The gliders on the ground were released 37 minutes earlier by the 313^th TCG and 61^st TCG (92 gliders between 1603 and 1610 hours). Minutes following this drop, more serials of the313th TCG and the 316^th TCG released another 97 gliders. Photo was taken by an official US Army Combat Photographer on-scene during the drop.

(Above) CG-4 Waco gliders being prepared for towing by the 310th TCS. Note the invasion stripes on the tail of the glider on the far left indicating this was a training mission after the Normandy invasion on June 5/6, 1944

(Left) As the caption states, gliders on the ground at Arnhem, Holland, September, 1944, during Operation Market Garden. Judging by the width of the skid marks and the short fuselage, they appear to be mostly Wacos. Note the relative shortness of the skid marks, indicating a ground run of less than 5 seconds duration. In an interview, FO Stone of the 315^th TCG described the best technique to land a glider was to stall it just above the ground and ‘drop’ the aircraft onto the ground. This technique reduced ground run, which was usually more dangerous over rough terrain than the ‘drop’ from a few feet.

(Right) Aerial view of glider landing, mostly Horsas. Landing zone and date not identified.

(Above) British Horsa glider allocated to the 315th TCG. The 315th towed both Waco CG-4s and Horsas carrying American and British in training but were never tasked to tow them in combat.

(Left) The caption at the top of the photo reads “In September 1944, Ductch villagers and a pliceman watch gliders carrying units of the 82^nd Airborne Division toward a target behind the German lines.” The unit of C-47s towing the gliders is not identified, and probably not the 315^th TCG as they never towed gliders in a combat operation.

(Above) Walter 'Pappy' Winans and Pat McMarrow standing next to British Horsa. Note invasion stripes which were painted on Allied aircraft for Normandy and after. The Horsa was towed with a V line attached to each wing. After Normandy, the Horsa’s were modified with explosive bolts around the empennage (tail section) which blew off the tail to permit rapid egress of the troops after landing. 315^th Flight Officer and glider pilot Arthur ‘Stoney’ Stone reported seeing a Horsa in-tow with the empennage missing while flying as a C-47 copilot on a mission into Holland during Operation Market Garden. The explosive bolts had apparently discharged in-flight. The outcome for the unfortunate glider and its occupants is not known.

(Above) A British Horsa glider after landing. Troops in foreground not identified.

Among the companies who built Hora gliders was the Harris Lebus company , founded by Lewis Lebus, a Breslau-born Jew who came to England in 1840 and started building furniture. By 1899 Lebus employed 1000 operatives and 45 managers, and was the largest furniture company in England. The company reached its zenith just before World War II, when it employed about 8,000 workers. In 1940, the Harris Lebus company switched to armaments production, their specialty building Horsa Transport gliders for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Its first military use was the British invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943. In all, 1,461 were constructed by Harris Lebus, along with another 1,271 of the Horsa II, a transport which was also used for reconnaissance.

(Right) Inside a British Horsa glider, looking forward. Note the bottom of the flight deck (cockpit) appearing just above the heads of the last glider troops. Photo was taken for training purposes.

(Below left) The operations manual ‘Pilot Notes’ for the British Horsa glider. (Below right) A page from the Pilot’s Notes handbook depicted the instrument panel and controls of the Horsa.

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