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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0080.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY IITH, 1945 INVASION EXPRESS : A Halifax towing a Hamilcar glider which carries about eight tons of cargo. Civil Trains WARTIME SUCCESS—DOUBTFUL FUTURE THE striking success of gliders in military operationshas produced a wave of enthusiastic speculationsand optimistic predictions as to their future. The glider has, in fact, gone through the complete swing of the pendulum. While in pre-war days, at least in this country and in the U.S.A., far less attention was paid to its develop- ment than it deserved'by its potentialities, the rapid war- time progress has brought the glider to a dazzling height of success. But does the military achievement necessarily warrant a peacetime career? Pre-war history of the glider is as colourful as its change in the course of this war from a German weapon to that of the United Nations. Before the war the Germans, at least in their initial air programme, concentrated on the development of gliding and later continued to employ it widely for pre-military training. The Russians, while stress- ing the training of parachutists, were nevertheless not blind to the possibilities of the glider, as witnessed by the fact that 14 out of a total of 19 records registered with the F.A.I., were held by them. The glider was an ideal instrument for familiarising large numbers of young men with the intricacies of the air, to make them not only air minded but air conscious and, what is more important, air confident. Wartime Progress Both in Russia and in Germany the idea of using glidersfor the transport of freight was experimented with before the war. In fact, it was Russia which first introduced thesystem of towing gliders behind power-driven aircraft. In Germany the N.S.F.K. Standarte 15 at Brunsberg is saidto have experimented successfully with glider trains com- prising four gliders. But since then the glider has travelled a long way. Incarrying capacity and operational technique the dainty glider of the early days of the war has become a robustcarrier. While German gliders employed at Crete carried about 10 men each, the CG-4A carries 15, the Horsa 25,and the Hamilcar a tank. Really heavy loads became glider borne for the first time in the Allied invasion opera-tions in France and in the Far East. For the first time, too, gliders landed at night under conditions where noaircraft could survive. The advocates of the post-war commercial use of theglider derive their arguments from two wartime perform- ances : the glider train and the pick-up technique. Some years ago it was shown that a powered aircraft can tow one, two, or more gliders. The three-engined Ju^2 is said to have been able to tow three light gliders in V-formation over an effective range of about 300 miles. A twin-engined cargo aircraft can tow at about 150 m.p.h. two of the Waco CG-4S, each weighing over 7,000 lb. when fully loaded. Towed to 25,000ft., they can glide 25 miles from the point of release. * Coupled with recent improvement in equipment and the technique of flying pick-up., here is the setting for the glid- ing enthusiast's post-war planning. The Civil Aspect A glider tug train of two or three gliders, it is said,while carrying passengers and freight could be operated economically between points A and D with drop-offs andpick-ups at B and C. Technically all this is possible. In good conditions aglider requires about 25 yards' landing run and an aircraft- cum-glider combination increases substantially the former'scargo-carrying capacity. For war employment such considerations as the advan-tage of landing men and material outside the heavily defended airfields in rough terrain and at preselectedpoints with the element of surprise, these and other tactical advantages may be decisive. But the moment normaleconomic considerations come into play, these virtues of the glider train recede in most cases. First, the dragreduces the cruising speed considerably. Since the latter is inversely proportionate to operational costs the conse-quences are, on one hand, the admitted increase of payload, on the other increased expenditure. In addition, thelower the speed the narrower is the competitive margin between airborne and other means of freight carriage.Other disadvantages are increased wear and tear on the tug's engines due to the need of higher power output forcruising, difficulty in cooling and lubrication, etc. Compared with an overloaded aircraft, the tug combina-tion is at considerable disadvantage. DC-3s employed by the American SCAT (South Pacific Combat Air TransportCommand) are reported to have frequently taken off at more thaij 32,000 1b. gross weight, and aircraft normallycertified by the C.A.A. for a gross weight of 25,250 1b. have taken off at over 30,000 1b. It has been calculated that in take-off qualities theglider combination is superior to the overloaded aircraft. But while the practice of overloaded aircraft cannot be
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