My British father was a glider pilot in WWII. He flew his squad into Sicily from North Africa successfully and then fought as an infantryman all the way to Naples before being shipped back to Britain for his next mission, D-day into Normandy. Following that he was shipped to India where he trained US glider pilots in readiness for a planned mission by Glider into China to attack the Japanese rear. They were based in the Himalayan foothills at very high elevation as the training involved preparing to fly over the Himalayas to get to China. Fortunately the War ended before that attack proved necessary. I notice that in the video all commentary is about the US WACO CG4A glider, called the Hadrian by the British, but a lot of the footage shows British Horsa and Hamilcar gliders. The Hamilcars are the ones that carried the tanks and the Horsas are what are shown in the video en mass with their stripes ready for take off on D-Day. The Horsa was a lot bigger than the WACO CG4A as it carried 20 - 25 armed infantrymen. My father said that in action the Horsa always flew well overloaded as the infantrymen always loaded up with extra ammunition and weapons so were all overweight. 25 guys could haul as much weight as a bare Jeep in their backpacks and pockets! Oh, and the Hamilcar carried 60 infantrymen, or 20lb field guns with ammunition trailers, the British MK IV light tank and later the US M22 light tank though I don't think the M22 Locust saw action. The Horsa was technically stealthier than the WACO gliders. They were made from steel tube covered with doped canvas. The Horsa was made from laminated wood veneers sandwiching end grain balsa wood. It's radar reflection would have been smaller but I doubt the German radar would pick up either given the absence of a big metal engine.This was much stronger than the steel and canvas air-frames. Explosive bolts were used after landing to remove the tail section for unloading the bigger equipment that it could carry. The training in India was done using WACO gliders that were used again and again, some surviving over a hundred landings. More aircraft were damaged by pilots showing off that by pilot error or aircraft failure. My father was one of several pilots reputed to have looped their gliders over the airfield. Realize, these guys were training at altitude. The base was near 8000' where the air is a lot thinner than down at sea level such as for invading Sicily and Normandy. I have a photograph taken by my father from one of two CG4s being towed behind a Dakota (C47) tug, He was in the left most aircraft and photographed the other one through the cockpit right side window. You can clearly see Mount Everest behind the other glider. It appears they were at or very close to the height of the peak of the mountain! I am in awe that the C47 could fly that high, let alone towing two gliders loaded with ballast to simulate a full passenger load. WWII glider pilots had a 25% survival rate. One of the lowest of any class of combatant in WWII. I'm glad my Dad was one of the few that survived or I wouldn't have been born in '46 to remember him.
Wow, if this is true story I hope that one day you can find a time to write a blog with all the pictures. I wld love to see that because this is such a rare piece of history to hear. Thank you for your time to write this ❤️
For D day if you know any more info, it’s probably possible to track down exactly which glider. Was he out of Harwell heading to DZ V by any chance? Or ever mention anything specific or unusual about the landing.
Interesting. My father was in India with an RAF glider tug squadron. I have read a few ideas regarding what their role might have been but an Himalayas route is a new one on me 😊. The Locust tank was used in the Rhine crossing BTW.
I'm a modern glider pilot. - This is a very good account of wartime glider ops. I'm not any kind of expert on the use of gliders during WW2, however there is one inconsistency stated during the video. The narrator states: 'The gliders were released at 500 feet, giving the pilots 20 seconds to decide where to land.' This type of glider - with all it's weight - and poor glide ratio - would be on the ground in twenty seconds. - They could only land safely if they had already chosen a safe paddock BEFORE releasing from the tow plane. - I suspect that they actually released from a greater height - possibly a much greater height. These men were incredibly brave, and one of the ways I try to honour them is to learn about what they went through. - I toured the Normandy beaches last year, and walked the paddock at Pegasus Bridge, where the British Commandos landed, and immediately took the bridge from the Germans emplaced there. The general public knows little about gliders, and I'd like them to understand more about the courage and sheer audacity of the men who flew in these machines.
my dad was a ww2 glider pilot who got the air medal for d-day when he landed between the rows of a apple orchard ,he,his crew all walked away and he went on to germany across franche--his friend who i am named after died on d-day
I have parachute jumps with the 82d, 101st, SF, Germans, and Brits, but the men who rode gliders down had "STONES!" At the 82 Airborne museum (1972) there was a Waco glider on display. I was amazed that anyone would willingly do that, and anyone survived that, and they initially did not want to pay them jump pay! Now those men were pure savages, AIRBORNE!
The needles sticking problem also existed on early jets, due to the lack of vibrations. The solution was adding a small electric motor with an unbalanced mass on the dashboard.
1:49 British Hamilcar (tank carrying glider) and Handley Page Halifax tow aeroplane.1:53 British Short Stirling Bomber/glider tug. 2:11 British Horsa Gliders 2:33 British Bren Gun Carrier existing Hamilcar glider. 5:19 British Horsa gliders 5:52 Hamilcar again with Bren gun carrier again....
I'm absolutely surprised these pilots are not more well known for their absolute fearless contribution to the war. I'm blown away by these courageous men, thank you all for your extraordinary bravery!!!!! You're unbelievable ... and let's not forget the incredibly brave souls who were being carried, damn. I'm still surprised why there is no talk about these individuals, talk about bravery!!!!
My farther was transported in to Burma in a glider to fight the Japanese he’s pilot was Jackie Coogan the actor he was in the Chindits The commander was general Wingate my dad passed away in 2006 aged 93
My Dad was a WWII GLIDER PILOT in Europe. He received the DISTINGUISH FLYING CROSS. He flew into Normandy on D-DAY and was 1 of 5 members of his squadron that survived.
My dad was a glider pilot during WWII. He talked about flying troops at night and how a friend of his, also a pilot, was killed one night...something to do with the tow line.
Yup. They were the only pilots to become ground infantry as soon as they landed from what I've heard in documentaries. My great grandpa was a glider pilot. In Holland, he safely landed the aircraft, met up with the guys from another glider to attach their trailer of supplies to the jeep brought by the other carrier. From there, they would've moved to transport and fight.
Hello, my GGrandfater V.V.Crouch was in Verdun in WWII part of a Railroad Battalion. There was an incident where 60 glider pilots showed up and needed to get back to get more gliders. This was problematic due to sabotage of tracks, equipment and communication. Supply drops not getting through until a night glider mission was put together. Parts flow in. Train assembled, track cleared. Locomotive was fired and dawn and they got through without any authorization from HQ. Has anyone heard this? Can anyone add to this? I do have some documents, photos that confirm some of this.
What a great informative video, I always wondered about these gliders. I'm a Brit, and I understand a lot of US guys took off from my county of Lincolnshire for various raids, including Market Garden and D-Day. The British had the Horsa glider, which I believe was used to take troops to Pegasus Bridge, not sure if that glider was better or worse, but it looked very different to the Waco!
Sorry but some massive holes in your film, most of the images shown in the first 2 mins were the British horsa gliders and operation market garden. The final bit about the tank?? That was a Hamilcar glider, also British.
Very good and lots of things I did not know. Slightly spoilt by using the term "American" instead of the correct term "Allied". The Waco was one of the smaller gliders used in WW2 so odd to describe it huge. First use of gliders was by Germany against Belgium in 1940. Britain developed their own fleet of gliders immediately and so the US development of the Waco in 1942 was rather second generation. Britain was using all its factory capacity (which was also being bombed) for fighter planes and other war use and so the British gliders were mostly made at furniture and piano factories and then assembled at the nearest airbase.
Had an uncle that flew a one man glider the night before Normandy. He went to several glider pilot reunions. He has one of those glider wings❤
My British father was a glider pilot in WWII. He flew his squad into Sicily from North Africa successfully and then fought as an infantryman all the way to Naples before being shipped back to Britain for his next mission, D-day into Normandy. Following that he was shipped to India where he trained US glider pilots in readiness for a planned mission by Glider into China to attack the Japanese rear. They were based in the Himalayan foothills at very high elevation as the training involved preparing to fly over the Himalayas to get to China. Fortunately the War ended before that attack proved necessary.
I notice that in the video all commentary is about the US WACO CG4A glider, called the Hadrian by the British, but a lot of the footage shows British Horsa and Hamilcar gliders. The Hamilcars are the ones that carried the tanks and the Horsas are what are shown in the video en mass with their stripes ready for take off on D-Day. The Horsa was a lot bigger than the WACO CG4A as it carried 20 - 25 armed infantrymen. My father said that in action the Horsa always flew well overloaded as the infantrymen always loaded up with extra ammunition and weapons so were all overweight. 25 guys could haul as much weight as a bare Jeep in their backpacks and pockets! Oh, and the Hamilcar carried 60 infantrymen, or 20lb field guns with ammunition trailers, the British MK IV light tank and later the US M22 light tank though I don't think the M22 Locust saw action.
The Horsa was technically stealthier than the WACO gliders. They were made from steel tube covered with doped canvas. The Horsa was made from laminated wood veneers sandwiching end grain balsa wood. It's radar reflection would have been smaller but I doubt the German radar would pick up either given the absence of a big metal engine.This was much stronger than the steel and canvas air-frames. Explosive bolts were used after landing to remove the tail section for unloading the bigger equipment that it could carry.
The training in India was done using WACO gliders that were used again and again, some surviving over a hundred landings. More aircraft were damaged by pilots showing off that by pilot error or aircraft failure. My father was one of several pilots reputed to have looped their gliders over the airfield. Realize, these guys were training at altitude. The base was near 8000' where the air is a lot thinner than down at sea level such as for invading Sicily and Normandy.
I have a photograph taken by my father from one of two CG4s being towed behind a Dakota (C47) tug, He was in the left most aircraft and photographed the other one through the cockpit right side window. You can clearly see Mount Everest behind the other glider. It appears they were at or very close to the height of the peak of the mountain! I am in awe that the C47 could fly that high, let alone towing two gliders loaded with ballast to simulate a full passenger load.
WWII glider pilots had a 25% survival rate. One of the lowest of any class of combatant in WWII. I'm glad my Dad was one of the few that survived or I wouldn't have been born in '46 to remember him.
Wow, if this is true story I hope that one day you can find a time to write a blog with all the pictures. I wld love to see that because this is such a rare piece of history to hear. Thank you for your time to write this ❤️
For D day if you know any more info, it’s probably possible to track down exactly which glider. Was he out of Harwell heading to DZ V by any chance? Or ever mention anything specific or unusual about the landing.
Interesting. My father was in India with an RAF glider tug squadron. I have read a few ideas regarding what their role might have been but an Himalayas route is a new one on me 😊. The Locust tank was used in the Rhine crossing BTW.
My Dad was in the gliders Army Corp. of Engineers in France during ww11
I'm a modern glider pilot. - This is a very good account of wartime glider ops. I'm not any kind of expert on the use of gliders during WW2, however there is one inconsistency stated during the video. The narrator states: 'The gliders were released at 500 feet, giving the pilots 20 seconds to decide where to land.' This type of glider - with all it's weight - and poor glide ratio - would be on the ground in twenty seconds. - They could only land safely if they had already chosen a safe paddock BEFORE releasing from the tow plane. - I suspect that they actually released from a greater height - possibly a much greater height. These men were incredibly brave, and one of the ways I try to honour them is to learn about what they went through. - I toured the Normandy beaches last year, and walked the paddock at Pegasus Bridge, where the British Commandos landed, and immediately took the bridge from the Germans emplaced there. The general public knows little about gliders, and I'd like them to understand more about the courage and sheer audacity of the men who flew in these machines.
Thanks for watching our channel.
my dad was a ww2 glider pilot who got the air medal for d-day when he landed between the rows of a apple orchard ,he,his crew all walked away and he went on to germany across franche--his friend who i am named after died on d-day
I have parachute jumps with the 82d, 101st, SF, Germans, and Brits, but the men who rode gliders down had "STONES!" At the 82 Airborne museum (1972) there was a Waco glider on display. I was amazed that anyone would willingly do that, and anyone survived that, and they initially did not want to pay them jump pay! Now those men were pure savages, AIRBORNE!
The needles sticking problem also existed on early jets, due to the lack of vibrations. The solution was adding a small electric motor with an unbalanced mass on the dashboard.
1:49 British Hamilcar (tank carrying glider) and Handley Page Halifax tow aeroplane.1:53 British Short Stirling Bomber/glider tug. 2:11 British Horsa Gliders 2:33 British Bren Gun Carrier existing Hamilcar glider. 5:19 British Horsa gliders 5:52 Hamilcar again with Bren gun carrier again....
I'm absolutely surprised these pilots are not more well known for their absolute fearless contribution to the war. I'm blown away by these courageous men, thank you all for your extraordinary bravery!!!!! You're unbelievable ... and let's not forget the incredibly brave souls who were being carried, damn. I'm still surprised why there is no talk about these individuals, talk about bravery!!!!
I learnt today, the pilots of the gliders were also army…. Not RAF.
@@nickplumridge9365 You mean like, British Army?
No. U.S. Army Air corp.@@MyMy-zi7yv
I saw one of these in St. Mere Eglise! The engineering on these are something else, you could fit a Jeep into one.
Thanks for watching our channel.
My farther was transported in to Burma in a glider to fight the Japanese he’s pilot was Jackie Coogan the actor he was in the Chindits The commander was general Wingate my dad passed away in 2006 aged 93
Jackie Coogan..aka Uncle Fester on old Adam's Family show. Was married to Betty Grable for awhile too.
God Bless Him!!
He more likely served with my great great uncle jewel eaglebarger. He was all over the pacific and did a few glider missions as well.
@@michaeljoesmith3977 He was also a child actor with Charlie Chaplin in silent movies.
My Dad was a WWII GLIDER PILOT in Europe. He received the DISTINGUISH FLYING CROSS. He flew into Normandy on D-DAY and was 1 of 5 members of his squadron that survived.
Brave man your dad ✌
@ THANK YOU!
My dad was a glider pilot during WWII. He talked about flying troops at night and how a friend of his, also a pilot, was killed one night...something to do with the tow line.
Great video. First time I ve seen gliders in the movie and I thought that was a joke. Those pilots really had balls of titanium
But notice that they were never used after WWII. 25% survival rate for pilots is not good. They were replaced by helicopters.
The D Day "special markings " the gliders and all allied aircraft used on D Day were called "invasion stripes".
During invasion of Sicily many allied planes were shot down by friendly fire, they were mistaken for German.
I've just found your channel and I was amazed
Thanks for this ✌
Watching The Forgotten Battle on Netflix and had no idea such aircraft existed. Very interesting stuff
Exactly how I ended up coming across this video! Wanting to learn more after watching the great film.
This was amazing! Badasss
Absolute insanity. Thankyou to those brave warriors.
Thanks for watching our channel.
Great video, thanks. I was looking for more info on gliders in WWII. G for Guts is right!
Amother great story!
Senator J. Strom Thurmond landed in a glider on D-Day. He volunteered at the age of 40 to serve.
As a lifetime pilot I cannot imagine what it must have been like flying over territory where everyone on the ground was trying to kill you.
Well we have to have a real plane drag us there then we get to crash land... I can't believe this was a thing, some super brave men!
My grandfather glider pilot warren G Hill flight officer 316th troop carrier group.
What did the glider pilots do after landing in the drop zone ? Put on combat gear and join the troops ?
Yup. They were the only pilots to become ground infantry as soon as they landed from what I've heard in documentaries. My great grandpa was a glider pilot. In Holland, he safely landed the aircraft, met up with the guys from another glider to attach their trailer of supplies to the jeep brought by the other carrier. From there, they would've moved to transport and fight.
@@nahmastay3300 Wow !! Multi-talented and multi-courageoius !!
Thanks !
Buena información no sabía de esos aviones y su usos
The Horsa glider is a British design not American .
These things are crazy.
Hello, my GGrandfater V.V.Crouch was in Verdun in WWII part of a Railroad Battalion. There was an incident where 60 glider pilots showed up and needed to get back to get more gliders. This was problematic due to sabotage of tracks, equipment and communication. Supply drops not getting through until a night glider mission was put together. Parts flow in. Train assembled, track cleared. Locomotive was fired and dawn and they got through without any authorization from HQ. Has anyone heard this? Can anyone add to this? I do have some documents, photos that confirm some of this.
What a great informative video, I always wondered about these gliders. I'm a Brit, and I understand a lot of US guys took off from my county of Lincolnshire for various raids, including Market Garden and D-Day. The British had the Horsa glider, which I believe was used to take troops to Pegasus Bridge, not sure if that glider was better or worse, but it looked very different to the Waco!
Nice video. However.. The air medal is not the Same as the glider pilot wings as shown at the end. Look it up😅
Thanks for the correction. I try to be as accurate as possible but I don’t always succeed.
Interesting
Sorry but some massive holes in your film, most of the images shown in the first 2 mins were the British horsa gliders and operation market garden. The final bit about the tank?? That was a Hamilcar glider, also British.
Well said, Sir.
Well Silent wings or flying coffins ?
Very good and lots of things I did not know. Slightly spoilt by using the term "American" instead of the correct term "Allied".
The Waco was one of the smaller gliders used in WW2 so odd to describe it huge.
First use of gliders was by Germany against Belgium in 1940. Britain developed their own fleet of gliders immediately and so the US development of the Waco in 1942 was rather second generation.
Britain was using all its factory capacity (which was also being bombed) for fighter planes and other war use and so the British gliders were mostly made at furniture and piano factories and then assembled at the nearest airbase.
Wow..
wild
my uncle was a glider pilot wwii
This is what my great grandpa did in normandy and bastogne i believe
1st battalion, HQ company, of the 325th glider infantry regiment assigned to the 82nd airborne.
What’s franks opinion on this
This is obviously a Russian bot account
Nope. This is a real history channel.
👍
not very 'stealthy' when the enemy could hear the tow plane
oh 🤦
Back when they made the Planes of plastic & balls of steal. 🇺🇸
My Dad never said much about those days just making jokes of fing the Germans big White horse which the G.I.s caught a road for fun😊
This version has one spelling error, which I corrected on the updated version. th-cam.com/video/d20qtq8IPkw/w-d-xo.html
Gay intro too long otherwise great vid bud keep er up
UNSUNG HEROES THOSE PILOTS!!! CRASH LANDING WITH AN ARMY TANK IN BACK OF YOUR SEAT (NOT FUN)!!!!!!
Every landing is a crash landing