World War II and Kentuckians: Voices of a Generation
Introduction
Campaigns
The Warriors
Women in War
The Homefront
The Enemy
Click here to watch a short British film about American Glider Pilots.
"You could put a handkerchief down and put a dime on that. You could then put one of the glider wheels down on that dime, thats how well they handled."
The first troops to set foot on French soil during the Normandy invasion stepped out of a Glider. Members of the US 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, along with their British and Canadian counterparts, were dropped into Normandy to secure the right and left flanks prior to the morning invasion.
American glider pilots, along with airborne forces, spearheaded all the major invasions, landing behind enemy lines in their unarmed gliders in Sicily, Normandy, Southern France, Holland, Germany, Luzon in the Philippines, and Burma.
One veteran American glider pilot painted a vivid picture of the stark terror they experienced:
"Imagine", he said, "flying a motorless, fabric-covered CG-4A glider, violently bouncing and jerking on a 11/16 inch thick nylon rope 350 feet back of the C-47 tow plane. You see the nervous glider infantrymen behind you, some vomiting, many in prayer, as you hedge-hop along at tree-top level instinctively jumping up in your seat every time you hear bullets and flak tearing through the glider. You try not to think about the explosives aboard. It's like flying a stick of dynamite through the gates of Hell."
There were only about 6,000 American military glider pilots, all volunteers. They proudly wore the silver wings with the letter "G" superimposed on them. The brash, high-spirited pilots were not a bit bashful about letting everyone know that the "G" stood for "Guts".
Above:
American infantry race from their gliders as oncoming gliders land from above.
Not many pilots routinely train to land a heavily-loaded, unarmored aircraft with no power plant into landing zones often traversed by massed hostile firepower. Combat Gliders, unlike recreational soaring gliders, could not gain altitude once the pilot released the tow line. They could only descend. Once a pilot committed to a landing and discovered, as he got closer, that the landing zone was under fire, mined, or otherwise obstructed, he had little room to maneuver to make a safe landing.
Surviving Glider Pilots describe one German method of mining likely glider landing zones. They nicknamed the technique "Rommel's Asparagus." The Germans placed Teller Mines atop poles in fields that were likely glider landing zones. Often, these mines were wired together across many acres. Once a glider hit one, many others were also detonated often creating a 360 degree ring of exploding mines around a landing glider.
Many pilots and glider infantry went through and survived murderous anti-aircraft fire en-route to their landing zones only to be wounded or killed in the landing. Glider Pilot training was unable to adequately simulate these conditions and many pilots learned how treacherous a combat landing could be on their first mission. The Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day was the first combat mission for many Glider Pilots. Many gliders went into the Normandy drop zones behind the German lines with supplies and reinforcements during the daylight hours of June 6, 1944 well after the beach landings and after the Germans finally realized this was the full-scale invasion they awaited. Consequently, the Germans were ready with anti-aircraft fire to shoot down as many aircraft as possible and to make glider approaches and landings truly dangerous.
Above:
Training Poster for US Army Airforce Glider pilots.
Many Glider Pilots were already qualified and skilled powered aircraft pilots who had earned their CAA (Civil Aeronautic Administration) civilian pilot's license before war broke out. Some had already gone through flight training but had been disqualified, not for lack of skill, but for problems beyond their control such as slightly deficient eyesight. One Glider Pilot - already a licensed pilot - whose eyesight disqualified him from fighter pilot training said he joined the glider program because he was looking for "anything to stay in the air." This typified the strong desire these pilots had to fly their own aircraft.
Left:
A pilot checks the controls prior to a mission.
Below:
An illustration regarding the dangers of trees and obstacles.
Above:
Emblem of the US Army Aircorp Glider Pilot Corps
Above:
Illustration of a correct glider landing.
Below:
Illustration of incorrect flying behind a C47 Transport Plane.
