Meet the WACO CG-4A
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- Опубліковано 25 бер 2020
- Did you know historic Kalamazoo icons like Gibson Guitar and Shakespeares played a role in building this glider in WWII? Air Zoo docent, David Baker, talks about this Michigan* made aircraft and the role it played on D-Day.
*Please note that the Ford Motor Company plant was located in Kingsford, Michigan, not Ironwood.
I am 91 - was 12 years old in 1945 - I lived in Jackson Heights Queens NY - Gliders were made in a large garage and stored on city streets - The American Way "Just Get It Done" God Bless America - - - -
My dad was a glider pilor who made D-Day invasion and Market Garden. He didn't talk a lot about his experiences. I just attended a D-Day ceremony at the Silent Wings Museum in Lubbock, TX.
My mother told me that the vets with the 'best' stories never talked about them and the vets who were always telling stories tended to be the other guys.
great presentation
Grandfather flew in to Normandy with 80th ABN,82nd and market garden also.
I was born and raised in Sturgis and never knew this it if Airborne History!
Amazing aircraft at a critical time of the war.
Interestingly people call it silent flight, its not. While they don't have engine noises, there is a lit of wind whistle which can get quite loud.
My father flew this GLIDER on D-DAY IN WWII. He had a Jeep behind him which almost crushed him when he was forced to crash land the glider because of faulty ground surveillance photos which showed low hedgerows instead of the actual 20’ or higher ones due to pictures taken at noon when there were no shadows.
The USAAF actually did have helicopters during WWII! The Sikorsky R-4 and I think the R-6 as well, neither of which could have replaced the CH-4A.
Although they had little impact, I think it's interesting that militaries were using helicopters as far back as WWII.
I wish that a new bulided CG-4A glider could be created with a try-cycle fixed landing gear with double tire nose gear and be towed up again to the sky this time with the LOCKHEED C-130 HERCULES.
Some years ago there were some glider trainers. Modified small planes with an extra seat where the engine would have gone. They used that design to get as many pilots as possible trained in how to fly them. One seat was the instructor and the 2 guys being trained would swap seats for each flight. When the session was over, we had 2 trained glider pilots ready to enter the fight.
Crazy
Does anyone have information on the electrical system of these aircraft? Pictures show headsets for the Pilot and copilot but no radio stacks. Was this strictly for intercom? Also there are navigation lights on the wingtips but no wind powered generator assembly that I can see.
Was the whole electrical system run on a battery bank?
That's interesting. One of the things that surprised me when I transitioned to gliders was that we didn't wear headsets at all.
In this training video I saw on youtube, they were using handheld radios, like the big brick phones but these radios were bigger.
There was a wired intercom that connected from the glider to the tow plane alongside the tow rope. Notoriously un-reliable. That would explain the headsets. I don't believe that any of the gliders used in combat would have used nav lights....
I read somewhere that they used a modified BC-611 walkie talkies with a speaker to communicate with the other aircraft.
They were built in Kingsford, Michigan, not ironwood, Michigan.
Jon! Great catch. Lot's of exciting stories to be told here and some facts got crossed. The Fold Motor Company plant was most definitely located in Kingsford, not Ironwood. We will work to revamp this as soon as we are able. We appreciate the feedback!
13,909 were built , sorry
and how many were used?
@@oczhaal dunno