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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0431.PDF
FEBRUARY I8TH, 1943 FLIGHT 173 men who will be carried into action in the gliders. The pilots, of course, revert to the role of infantrymen the moment they have safely landed their craft, and fight alongside their former pas- sengers. As recently described in Flight, the Glider Pilots Regiment looks after the training on this side of the Atlantic, while in America the Troop-Carrier Command fulfils much the same duty for the U.S. Army. In addition, the U.S. Marine Corps is also training some of its personnel as glider pilots, at a special school in South Carolina. This, however, is part of nn experi- mental programme being now under- taken by the U.S. Navy to explore the possibilities of troop-carrying gliders m sea-borne operations. Ex- periments are being made in launching troop-laden gliders from aircraft carriers, and in view of the great wing- span of this type of aircraft it would appear to be pnly possible to use the flush-deck carrier as opposed to the type with "island" superstructure. The problem of housing troop-carrying gliders in a carrier flnust also be a tricky one and suggests the possibility of quickly detachable wings which also fold at the half-span. This, of course, is pure speculation since no actual information is avail- able on the point. All that can be said is that at least four gliders, two to carry 12 men and two with twice that capacity, are at present under construction for the U.S. Navy to use' in these experiments. Taking our own Hdrsa glider as an example, it would mean dealing with a span of 88ft., or nearly twice the span of a Skua; the usual span of carrier-borne aircraft is 40ft. to 46ft. ; and the Alba- core, with a span of 50ft., is about the present limit on British carriers with "islands" to miss. The only infor- mation on the American experimental navy gliders is that they are designed as amphibians and are being constructed entirely of one of the recently developed plastic-impregnated wood HORSA, KEEP YOUR TAIL UP ! Being the only troop-carrying glider with a tricycle undercarriage, the Airspeed Horsa preserves a level floor for loading and unloading. With a span of 88ft., it provides side-by-side seating in the pilots' cockpit, but its capacity is a military secret. TRIM TWO-SEATER. The American Bowlus two-seater training glidci is very well streamlined and has a partly submerged single wheel " undercarriage," plus skids under nose and tail. Its design speed exceeds 100 m.p.h. AMERICAN MODEL. The 15-seater CG-4 troop-transport glider is now in produc- tion by both Ford and Boeing for the U.S. Army. Note the extended tail-fin, reminis- cent of the Flying Fortress II. The CG-4 is a Waco design with a span of 84ft. materials which can easily be worked into any desired shape. They will be flown by naval pilots and most of the tests will be.made with Marine Corps personnel. Three training-type gliders in use in America are actually adaptations of light power-driven aircraft, namely, the Taylorcraft, Piper, and the Aeronca, while a third type, the Bowlus, is a plywood^plastic product of Bowlus Sail- planes Inc. Simple Conversion In the case of the Taylorcraft, Piper and Aeronca, the chief alteration is the provision of a new nose which, in effect, replaces the engine by a third pilot's seat; thus two pupils may be instructed simultaneously, triple sets of con- trols being fitted. The same wing as before is iTsed but the undercarriage has been shortened since there is no air- screw, and a wooden skid fitted beneath the nose to avoid the possibility of a " ground loop " in a rough or hurried landing in restricted space. These models, of course, remain strut-braced high-wing types like their power-driven parents. The Bowlus, on the other hand, was designed from the start as a training glider and is a tandem two-seater canti- lever mid-wing type, somewhat similar in appearance to the British Hotspur but with certain important differences. Its landing gear comprises a single wheel beneath the centre-section and partly recessed into the bottom of the fuselage, plus the customary skid under the nose. Its
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