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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1213.PDF
I / MAY 29TH, 1941. 371 With the quick-opening Eschner parachute, broken out by static line attached to the troop carrjer, paratroops can jump from aslow an altitude as 200ft. though more usually the descent is made from 500ft. In this photograph German troops have just left a -_-_,(. : _•-: . •— -.-,...- •:, •- •:•--. formation of Junkers Ju 52s. TROOPS BY AIR Troop-carrying Trailers in Crete : Probable Towing Methods : Trailer Design '•''.' ^ Bv BRUCE FOSTER. B.C.E.. D.I.C.. A.F.R.Ae.S. CRETE is most valuable experi-ence for the British arms. TheGermans have used a weapon, the existence of which we have longbeen aware of, and for which we are prepared in this island. But nowtheir method of using it can no longer t>e a secret from us (if it ever was)for it has been used against British troops for the first time in Crete. Thisis tie troop-carrying glider, or to give itg. better name, the air trailer.™ris long ago as last July an article was published in Flight on this sub-ject and the opinion advanced that although air trailers were vulnerableto attack by fighters, they had several advantages which would make themworth using to carry some, but only some, of the troops needed in an in-vasion attempt. These advantages were: their power to increase thecarrying capacity of the enemy's troop transports by a small sacrifice of thespeed ; their silent arrival, perhaps in darkness or just at dawn, after beingcast off at about 10,000ft. ten or fifteen miles before reaching thecoast; their ability to land at very low speed, 35 to 40 m.p.h., in very smallfields. All these are advantages which the air trailer possesses as a trooptransport. Like the use of the para- chute in war, the use of the air trailerwas received sceptically in some quar- ters because one could think of many situations in which it would be of verylittle use. To land any considerable number of troops successfully by gliderwas held by many people to be im- possible while the Royal Air Forceflew in the British sky. But war is a human activity in which the impos-sible is frequently made possible, thereby staggering the imagination ofthe generals. Other ways in which air-bornetroops arrive are by parachute and by transport aircraft. Both these waysare familiar to us—though not because any nave landed in England! But allthree methods have been used in Crete, and the experience which ourforces have had in dealing with this army descended from the air is in-valuable. We knew previously about the parachute—it is the quick-openingEschner variety—and the troop trans- port—the Junkers Ju 52 three-enginedall-metal airliner. From now on we shall know all about the air trailer too. In the article last July it was calcu-lated that a trailer carrying 10 troops and their equipment (2501b. each)could be towed behind a Junkers 52 and would reduce its speed from 140to 120 m.p.h. The empty weight of the trailer was suggested at 1,7001b.,and its loaded weight 4,2001b. From certain information which wenow have it seems likely that the Ger- man trailers are somewhat larger than this, probably 15 passenger modelsweighing empty 2,5001b. and loaded 6,3001b. They will certainly be highwing monoplanes to give the wing the necessary ground clearance in the take-off, and their span would be 70 to 75ft. Structurally of wooden construction,the wing and fuselage covering might be either fabric or plywood. Thoughthe wings and tail unit would probably have square tips and straight tapers tosimplify production, the aerodynamic design of the trailer would be suffi-ciently refined to keep drag down, or the towing load would be excessive. That brings us to the interestingpoint about how many would comprise the train and how they would behitched on to the aerial tug. This might perhaps be a separate cable (oreach trailer, in which case probably three would be the maximum numberto each towing aeroplane. Using dif- ferent lengths of cable and flying atdifferent heights, the possibilities of fouling would be reduced to less thanmany other war risks. The middle trailer would stay exactly behind thetower, and the other two, by means of a small amount of rudder held onall the time by spring or a trimming tab, would fly at each side. Theobliquity of the cables fox the out- board gliders could be reduced byattaching them to the wings at about the engine nacelles.
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