WWII Flying Coffins
Thread Starter
WWII Flying Coffins
Just ran across this article about US Army Air Corps Glider Pilots.....and having flown Gliders in the past it prompted me to consider what it must have been like to be a Glider Pilot headed to France at night over the English Channel knowing it was a one way trip and the reception you were going to face upon landing was not going to be a friendly one.
I tip my Hat to those Men...of both the American and British Glider Pilots as they certainly were Bold as Brass! When one looks back to those Nights such as at Pegasus Bridge and other assaults in which Gliders played such a role....it makes one step back and salute.
https://www.asme.org/engineering-top...f-world-war-ii
I tip my Hat to those Men...of both the American and British Glider Pilots as they certainly were Bold as Brass! When one looks back to those Nights such as at Pegasus Bridge and other assaults in which Gliders played such a role....it makes one step back and salute.
https://www.asme.org/engineering-top...f-world-war-ii
Chief Tardis Technician
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Western Australia S31.715 E115.737
Age: 71
Posts: 554
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Never mind the pilots,
What about the cannon fodder in the back. They just had to sit there and hope they could walk away from where ever they wound up..
What about the cannon fodder in the back. They just had to sit there and hope they could walk away from where ever they wound up..
Gentleman Aviator
Quite a bit of stuff here on the Assault Glider Trust website.
Latterly more and more RAF pilots were used, as the GPR ones were all - one way or another - on one-way trips.....
Latterly more and more RAF pilots were used, as the GPR ones were all - one way or another - on one-way trips.....
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: 26000 to 28,000 lightyears from the galatic centre
Age: 77
Posts: 195
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tent Pegging Dive Bombers
My late Father (220 Sqdn B17 Flt Eng) often talked of observing a Sqdn of dive bombers, making a practice attack and the first 3/4/5 aircraft just tent pegged in one after another.
I am unable to recall the specific attack aeroplane but it was but either:
• Brewster Buccaneer — dive bomber (Royal Navy)
• Fairey Albacore — torpedo/dive bomber (Royal Air Force, Royal Navy)
• Fairey Barracuda — dive bomber (Royal Navy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...my_Cooperation
This must have been around August 1943 when 220 Sqdn was working up on B17s before deployment to the Azores later that year. He was on his 2nd or 3rd training flight and a new crew. They were base at Benbecula at the time.
***
I am unable to recall the specific attack aeroplane but it was but either:
• Brewster Buccaneer — dive bomber (Royal Navy)
• Fairey Albacore — torpedo/dive bomber (Royal Air Force, Royal Navy)
• Fairey Barracuda — dive bomber (Royal Navy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...my_Cooperation
This must have been around August 1943 when 220 Sqdn was working up on B17s before deployment to the Azores later that year. He was on his 2nd or 3rd training flight and a new crew. They were base at Benbecula at the time.
***
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near the watter...
Age: 77
Posts: 251
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Back in 1994, a large number of Americans came through Heathrow Terminal 4 where I was an Immigration Officer, it being the 50th anniversary of the Invasion. One came to my desk, with his much younger wife.... I asked him how long he intended to stay and what they were going to do....He told me there were in Europe for the commemoration of the Invasion...but his wife didn't like him talking about it (!) So I asked him what it was he had done....and he told me he had been a Hamilcar glider pilot. "Those were the ones with tanks in the back, weren't they?" I asked him....he nodded....so I said "I'm terribly sorry, I won't be able to admit you to the UK." "Why not?" he asked....so I told him we were expressly forbidden to admit lunatics (!) ... he started to laugh and said they were all young and crazy.....
The amazing thing is that I understand that, if they survived the landing, the pilots were expected to pick up an SMG and join the troops in the fight. Talk about multi-tasking!
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: EU Land
Posts: 189
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
OB,
Ref the sqn of dive bombers:
- Brewster Buccanneer (Bermuda in UK service) - unlikely given the small number (5) used by the UK
- Fairey Albacore - unlikely, as by 1943 they were being retired from front-line duty rather than working up to it
- Fairey Barracuda - entering service in 1943, so the most likely of the 3 suspects.
Ref the sqn of dive bombers:
- Brewster Buccanneer (Bermuda in UK service) - unlikely given the small number (5) used by the UK
- Fairey Albacore - unlikely, as by 1943 they were being retired from front-line duty rather than working up to it
- Fairey Barracuda - entering service in 1943, so the most likely of the 3 suspects.
Well,
it wasn´t only the allied using gliders...
Messerschmitt Me-321 Gigant | Aircraft |
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DFS_230
it wasn´t only the allied using gliders...
Messerschmitt Me-321 Gigant | Aircraft |
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DFS_230
Thread Starter
We don't brag on the Oppo's......bad form you know!
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Somewhere flat
Age: 68
Posts: 5,568
Likes: 0
Received 46 Likes
on
31 Posts
...and don't forget the British Air Landing Brigade in the invasion of Sicily in 1943. The tugs were American, and having got lost and been shot at by the Invasion Fleet at sea, the tugs dropped the gliders short and very very few reached land. Over 250 glider borne troops drowned. Little wonder that there were often fights between British airborne troops and American pilots afterwards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ladbroke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ladbroke
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: One Three Seven, Disco Heaven.
Age: 65
Posts: 2,544
Likes: 0
Received 35 Likes
on
18 Posts
I'm sure I read somewhere that on D Day, after surviving the landing, the Pilots were expected to head for the beaches, get a lift back to the UK, and do it all again!
Originally Posted by Dan Gerous
I'm sure I read somewhere that on D Day, after surviving the landing, the Pilots were expected to head for the beaches, get a lift back to the UK, and do it all again!
The GPR at Arnhem, suffered the highest casualty rate among all the 1st AB units during Market Garden, at around 90%.....
This is a famous photo of two members of the GPR house clearing during the fighting at Arnhem
Latterly more and more RAF pilots were used, as the GPR ones were all - one way or another - on one-way trips.....
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,073
Received 2,942 Likes
on
1,253 Posts
The Germans attempting to reinforce troops in Tunisia with the powered Gigant glider.
http://ww2today.com/22nd-april-1943-...-mediterranean
On the 22nd April 1943 the airlift programme from Sicily to Tunisia was brought to a dramatic halt when a fleet of 27 Me 323 transport planes was attacked by Allied fighters. Although escorted by German fighters they were little better than sitting ducks. 22 were shot down into the Mediterranean.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,073
Received 2,942 Likes
on
1,253 Posts
Also if you look at a period image of a C-47 you will see a circle in all of the side windows, this was so the troops could stick their muskets out and do a bit of air to air combat if needed.
- Fairey Barracuda - entering service in 1943, so the most likely of the 3 suspects