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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1798.PDF
04 JULY 15TH, 1943 SPOILING THE GLIDE : With flaps down at 90 degrees to the wing, a Horsa comes in to land. The slow forward speed and tricycle undercarriage makes it suitable for landing in small areas. • Details of One - of Qreat Britain's Troop-carrying Qliders T HE recent feat of towing a glider from Canada to theUnited Kingdom has focused attention on the pos-sibilities of this form of air transport for carrying freight. From a puiely military point of view the mainfunqtio*rtof a"gUder is, of course, the carrying of troops, the glider having certain advantages compared with the drop-ping of/troops byXincJividual parachutes. It is not that one tal«s the place\o4 the,other, but rather that they arecomplementary. T1JS glider can be cut adrift from its tug and, if it is cast off at a substantial height, it can cover quite a respectable horizontal distance under perfect con- trol, and in almost complete silence, and can land on almost any field, irrespective of size and surface conditions. At one time the view was held that since troop-carrying gliders may have a very short life in any case, there is no need for great aerodynamic efficiency, nor for very high finish. There are several reasons why that argument is fallacious. Most obvious is the fact that if a powe/ driven aircraft is to several gliders, or tow onfe glider over a very long dis- tance, its efficiency becomes important, since the drag has to be paid for in the form of power required by the tug. After casting off from the tug. the efficient glider can reach a more distant point than the less efficient. German sailplanes of the high-efficiency type produced as a result of the Rhon meet- ings had efficiencies of a very high order—gliding angles in the neighbourhood of 20 :1. Such efficiencies were pos- sible in the relatively light single-seaters used, as large wing spans and high aspect ratios, which kept induced drag down to a minimum. In the much heavier troop- carrying gliders such aspect (Continued on p. 66.) NIGHT AND DAY : (Top) AHorsa in its suit of "night" black paint. (Bottom) Dressedin day and training camouflage this glider is having the bridletow ropes attached under the wings.
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