The Freeper Foxhole Profiles Gliders and Glider Troops

The WACO CG-4A Invasion Glider
TRIBUTE TO THE AMERICAN COMBAT GLIDER PILOTS OF WORLD WAR II

The WACO CG-4A Invasion Glider

The CG-4 became the first and most-widely used US. troop glider of World War II

After trials with the XCG-4 in 1942, a second prototype was ordered (42-53534) and plans were made for large scale production in which, eventually, sixteen different assembly lines participated, to deliver 13,906 examples of the CG-4A. Of mixed wood and metal construction, mostly fabric covered, the CG-4A was of conventionaltroop-glider design, with a high wing, a box-section fuselage and an upward-hinged nose section to permit direct loading of vehicles into the cabin. The hinged portion of the nose contained the cockpit with its dual control for two pilots sideby-side, and the tow attachment.

As required by the specification, the CG-4A could accommodate I5 equipped troops, including two serving as pilots. Among other tactical loads which could be carried were a standard Army Jeep, Ford or Willys 1/4 ton truck with four-man crew, or a 75-mm. howitzer and crew. Its gross weight of 7,500 lb.-9,000 lb. and towing speed of 150 m.p.h. made it suitable for operations behind the C-46 and C-47.

The CG-4A went into operation, rather disastrously, in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. A series of misadventures, none of them attributable to the design of the aircraft, minimized the effectiveness of the glider attack. Greater success attended their participation, in March, 1944, in the second Wingate Chindit operation in Burma, involving landing in a jungle clearing by night ISO miles behind the main Japanese lines. Subsequently these gliders participated in other major airborne operations of which the most significant were the D-Day landings in France on June 6,1944, the landings in southern France in August 1944, the action at Arnhem and the crossing of the Rhine.

Today's Educational Sources and suggested further reading:
www.worldwar2history.info/
www.campbell.army.mil/
www.fiddlersgreen.net/
www.atterburybakalarairmuseum.org/
www.pointvista.com/

Today's classic warship, USS Dunlap (DD-384)

Gridley class destroyer
Displacement. 1,490 t.
Lenght. 341'2"
Beam. 36'5"
Draft. 17'2"
Speed. 36 k.
Complement. 158
Armament. 5 5", 4 .50 cal mg, 12 21" tt.

USS Dunlap (DD-384) was launched 18 April 1936 by United Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corp., New York N.Y., sponsored by Mrs. Robert H. Dunlap, widow of Brigadier General Dunlap; and commissioned 12 June 1937, Commander A. E. Schrader in command.

Dunlap operated along the east coast on training duty, and in June 1938 served as escort at Philadelphia for SS Kungsholm, carrying the Crown Prince of Sweden. On 1 September she got underway for the west coast; except for a cruise to the Caribbean and east coast for a fleet problem and overhaul in the first 6 months of 1939, Dunlap served along the west coast until 2 April 1940 when she sailed for Pearl Harbor, her new home port.

On 7 December 1941 Dunlap was at sea bound for Pearl Harbor with TF 8 after ferrying planes to Wake Island. She entered Pearl Harbor next day and patrolled in the Hawaiian area until 11 January 1942 when she sortied with TF 8 for air strikes on the Marshals, returning 5 February. After taking part in the raid on Wake Island of 24 February, she continued to patrol in the Hawaiian area until 22 March, then escorted convoys between various ports on the west coast until returning to Pearl Harbor 22 October 1942.

Dunlap arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia, 6 December 1942 and operated from that base on training and patrol duty, and as escort for convoys to the Fiji, Tonga, and New Hebrides Islands until arriving at Guadalcanal 30 July 1943 for duty in the Solomons. On the night of 6-7 August she was sent with five other destroyers to intercept a Japanese force carrying reinforcements to Kolombangara. In the resulting Battle of Vella Gulf, a brilliant night torpedo action, the ably handled task group sank three Japanese destroyers and drove the fourth back to its base at Buin. They suffered no damage themselves.

After overhaul at San Diego, Dunlap sailed 23 November 1943 for patrol duty out of Adak until 16 December when she left for Pearl Harbor, arriving 6 days later. She joined the 6th Fleet to screen carriers in strikes of the Marshall Islands operations from 19 January to 4 March 1944, then touched at Espiritu Santo briefly before sailing for Fremantle, Australia, to rendezvous with the British Eastern Fleet. After training here and at Trincomalee, Ceylon, she took part in the strikes on the Soerabaja area of Java on 17 May, and next day sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving 10 June.

Dunlap returned to San Francisco 7 July 1944 to join the screen for Baltimore (CA-68) carrying President F. D. Roosevelt for conferences and inspections with top Pacific commanders of Pearl Harbor and Alaskan bases. Detached from this task group at Seattle 12 August, Dunlap returned to Pearl Harbor. She sailed 1 September, bombarded Wake Island 3 September, and arrived at Saipan 12 September for duty with the Marianas Patrol and Escort Group.

Dunlap took part in the bombardment of Marcus Island on 9 October. On 16 October 1944 she rendezvoused with the 3d Fleet units for strikes on Luzon, then supported the Iandings At Leyte. When the Japanese forces made a three-pronged attack on the Philippines, she was underway for Ulithi but reversed course to screen TG 38.1 in its attacks of 25 and 26 October on the enemy fleeing after the decisive Battle for Leyte Gulf. Dunlap arrived at Ulithi 29 October for patrol duty and took part in the daring bombardments on Iwo Jima in November and December 1944 and January 1945. She returned to Iwo Jima 19 March to support its occupation, and until the end of the war patrolled to intercept Japanese ships attempting to evacuate the Bonins. On 19 June she sank an enemy craft attempting to evacuate Chichi Jima, picking up 52 survivors. Japanese officers came on board 31 August to discuss surrender terms for the Bonin Islands, and returned 3 September to sign the surrender.

Dunlap sailed for Iwo Jima 19 September 1945 touched at San Pedro Calif., and arrived at Houston Tex., for Navy Day. she arrived at Norfolk 7 November where she was decommissioned 14 December 1945 and was sold for scrapping 31 December 1947.

Dunlap received six battle stars for World War II service.

(Note the wrong hull number in the photo caption)

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on August 14:
1774 Meriwether Lewis Charlottsville VA, capt of Lewis & Clark Expedition
1777 Hans Christian Oersted Den, physicist/chemist (View of Chemical Law)
1802 Letitia Elizabeth Landon England, poet/novelist/socialite
1810 Samuel Sebastian Wesley, composer
1860 Ernest T Seton naturalist/painter/author (Buffalo Wind-1938)
1867 John Galsworthy England, author (Forsyte Saga-Nobel 1932)
1869 Armas Järnefelt Vyborg Finland, composer (Berceuse)
1901 Sir James Pitman England, educator/publisher/phonetic speller
1903 John Ringling North circus director
1920 Nehemiah Persoff actor (Al Capone, Yentl)
1924 Georges Prˆtre Waziers France, conductor (NY Met)
1925 Russell Baker columnist/humorist (NY Times)
1926 Alice Ghostly Montana, actress (Bewitched, With 6 You Get Egg Roll)
1926 Buddy Greco Phila Pa, singer (Away We Go, Broadway Open House)
1930 Earl Weaver St Louis Mo, manager (Balt Orioles 1968-82, 85-86)
1940 Dash Crofts Cisco Tx, singer (Seals & Crofts-Summer Breeze)
1941 Connie Smith Elkhart, Indiana, singer (Dream Painter, New Horizons)
1941 David Crosby rocker (Crosby, Stills & Nash-Southern Cross)
1942 Sandy Gilmour Montclair NJ, newscaster (Prime Time Sunday)
1943 Jon A McBride Charleston WV, Capt USN/astronaut (STS 41G)
1944 Robyn Smith Astaire jockey/wife of Fred Astaire
1945 Steve Martin Waco Tx, comedian (The Jerk, Man With 2 Brains)
1946 Antonio Fargas Bronx NY, actor (Huggy Bear-Starsky & Hutch)
1946 Larry Graham rocker (One in a million, you)
1946 Susan St James LA Cal, (MacMillan & Wife, Kate & Allie, Name of Game)
1952 Debbie Meyer US, 200m/400m/800m freestyle swimmer (Oly-gold-1968)
1952 Mark C Lee Viroqua Wisconsin, Major USAF/astronaut (STS-30, sk:47)
1956 Sharon Bryant vocalist (Atlantic Starr - Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
1957 Jackee (Harry) Winston-Salem NC, actress (Sandra-227)
1958 Earvin (Magic) Johnson NBA star (LA Lakers)
1961 Susan Olson actress (Cindy-Brady Bunch)
1965 Emmanuelle B‚art St Tropez France, actress (Manon of the Spring)
1965 Lynette Falls Ridgewood NJ, Miss NJ-America-1991

Deaths which occurred on August 14:
1433 Johan I, king of Portugal (1383-1433)
1785 John William Fletcher, evangelist, dies
1936 Rainey Bethea hung, last US public execution
1951 William Randolph Hearst newspaper publisher, dies in Beverly Hills
1958 Gladys L Presley mom of Elvis, dies at 46
1958 Mary Ritter Beard American historian, dies at 82
1972 Jules Romains French novelist, dies at 86
1972 Oscar Levant actor (American in Paris, Dance of Life), dies at 65
1982 Patrick Magee Irish actor, dies at 58
1985 Gale Sondergaard actress, dies at cerebral vascular thrombosis
1988 Enzo Ferrari Italy, sportscar manufacturer (Ferrari), dies at 90
1991 Douglas Kiker newscaster (NBC-TV), dies of a heart attack at 61

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 BRODAK JOHN W. JENNINGS MO.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 1998]
1966 EATON CURTIS ABBOT WAKEFIELD RI.
[09/09/76 VN REPORTS KILLED]
1966 FRANKLIN CHARLES E. YOUNGSTOWN OH.
[REMAINS RETURNED 10/88]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied
by the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
410 Alaric sacks Rome
0554 Ravenna becomes seat of Byzantines military governor in Italy
1248 Construction of Cologne Cathedral begun
1281 Kublai Khans invading fleet disappears in typhoon near Japan
1385 Portuguese defeat Castilians at Aljubarrota, retain independence
1457 Oldest known exactly dated printed book (c 3 years after Gutenberg)
1756 French capture Fort Oswego, NY
1765 Mass colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)
1784 First Russian settlement in Alaska, on Kodiak Island, Grigori Shelekhov, a Russian fur trader, founded Three Saints Bay
1813 British warship Pelican attacks & captures US war brigantine Argus
1842 Seminole War ends; Indians removed from Florida to Oklahoma
1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance
1848 Oregon Territory created
1862 Lincoln receives 1st group of blacks to confer with US president
1873 "Forest & Stream" begins publishing
1876 Prairie View State University forms
1880 Construction of Cologne Cathedral completed(began in 1248)
1893 France issues 1st driving licenses, included required test
1900 Intl forces including US Marines enter Beijing to put down Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at ridding China of foreigners
1908 Race riot in Springfield Illinois
1910 6th International Congress of Esperantists held in Washington, DC
1912 2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925
1917 China declares war on Germany & Austria at start of WW I
1919 Yankee Muddy Ruel hits into a triple-play
1932 10th Olympic Games at Los Angeles closes
1935 Social Security Act became law
1936 1st Olympic basketball game (Berlin)
1937 Detroit Tigers score 36 runs in double header vs St Louis Browns
1939 1st night games at Comiskey Park (White Sox 5, Browns 2)
1941 Atlantic Charter signed by FDR & Churchill
1945 V-J Day; Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II
1947 India granted independence within British Commonwealth
1947 Mildred Babe Didrikson Zaharias gives up amateur status for $300,000
1947 Pakistan gains independence from Britain
1948 14th Olympic games in London closes
1958 Canadian Football League plays 1st game (Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 21)
1958 Cleve Indian, Vic Power steals home twice in 1 game
1958 KLM Superconstellation crashes west of Ireland, killing 99
1959 AFL organized with NY, Dallas, LA, Minneapolis, Denver & Houston
1961 Phila Phillies lose 17th straight game
1962 French & Italian workers break through at Mount Blanc Vehicular Tunnel
1962 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 60,000 m
1962 US mail truck in Plymouth, Mass robbed of more than $1.5 million
1965 Beatles tape an appearance for the Ed Sullivan Show
1965 Continental Football League plays 1st games
1966 1st US lunar orbiter begins orbiting the Moon
1967 Pirate radio stations Radio 270, Radio London, Radio Ireland, Radio Scotland & Radio Swinging Holland go off the air
1969 British troops intervenes militarily in Northern Ireland
1969 NY Mets fall 9« games back, later to win the pennant
1970 City University of NY inaugurates open admissions
1971 Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule
1971 British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland
1971 St Louis Cards Bob Gibson no-hits Pitts, 11-0
1972 East German Aeroflot Illyushin 62 crashes near Moscow, killing 156
1973 Johnny Unitas files $725,000 suit against Balt Colts
1973 US bombs Cambodia
1974 Congress authorizes US citizens to own gold
1977 77,691 see NY Cosmos beat Ft Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 at Giant Stad
1978 French TV announced a rating of "0" for a program about an Armenian's woman's 40th birthday, (comp: Napoleonic drama-67%, Knockout-33%)
1979 Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a 3 hour duration
1981 George Foster hits his 8th HR into the red seats at Riverfront
1982 Pete Rose (Phillies) 12,365 at bat sets record (passes Aaron)
1984 IBM releases MS-DOS version 3.0
1986 Phillies & Pirates play a 6 game series in 4 days
1990 Angel's Louis Palonia is 74th to hit an inside the park grandslam
1990 Denver vote for a 1% sales tax to pay for a baseball franchise
1991 Comedian Jackie Mason marries his manager Jyll Rosenfeld (37)
1994 International terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sánchez, known as Carlos the Jackal, is jailed in France
1997 Timothy McVeigh, convicted on fifteen counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was sentenced to die by lethal injection.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Arkansas : World War II Memorial Day (1945)
Bahrain : Independence Day (1971)
Chicago : Bud Billiken Day-honors children (1923)
Liechtenstein : Prince Franz-Joseph Day
Massachusett : Liberty Tree Day (1765)
Pakistan-1947, Bahrain-1971 : Independence Day
Portugal : Independence Day (1385)
Rhode Island, Michigan : V-J Day (1945)
US : Atlantic Charter Day; US & UK agree on war aims (1941)
Italy : Palio Del Golfo (2nd Sunday) ( Sunday )
Zambia : Youth Day ( Monday )
Yukon : Klondike Gold Day (1896) ( Friday )
National Whiffle Ball Day
National Senior Citizens Day
Elvis International Tribute Week (Day 5)
Foot Health Month(so keep yours out of your mouth)

Religious Observances
RC : St Vigil of the Assumption of Mary
RC : Memorial of Maximilian Kolbe, priest, martyr at Auschwitz

Religious History
1739 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Our extremity is God's opportunity.'
1810 Birth of Samuel S. Wesley, grandson of Methodist hymnwriter Charles Wesley. Himself a sacred composer, Samuel Wesley penned over 130 original hymn tunes. The best remembered of these today is AURELIA, to which is sung "The Church's One Foundation."
1814 During the American Revolution, American patriot Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) was held overnight as a British prisoner during their shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. In the morning, Key penned what later became our national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner."
1848 Death of English devotional writer Sarah Flower Adams, 43. In 1845 she published The Flock at the Fountain, a catechism containing hymns for children. One of those hymns remains popular to this day: "Nearer, My God, To Thee."
1944 German Lutheran theologian and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison: 'God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill all His promises ... leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :(Happy B-Day RaceBannon)
"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened."

You might be a cheese head if...
you never realized that cheese had more uses then just hats

Murphys Law of the day...(Lotto Laws)
You check the paper and find that you have all six numbers, but then you find the newspaper misprinted two of the numbers.

Cliff Clavin says, it's a little known fact that...
All of the roles in Shakespeare's plays were originally acted by men and boys. In England at that time, it wasn't proper for females to appear on stage.

Air Power
"The Glider Haulers"

C-46 "Commando"

Douglas C-47 Skytrain / Dakota

C-46 History:

In March 1940, the Curtiss-Wright company first flew a new 36-seat commercial airliner design, designated the CW-20. The US Army became interested in the aircraft for its cargo/transport capabilities, and ordered a militarized version, the C-46 Commando, be produced, utilizing two 2,000-hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-43 engines. The Commando entered service with the USAAF in July 1942, becoming the largest and heaviest twin-engine aircraft in the Air Corps.

The first major variant to appear was the C-46A, which had a large cargo door in the left rear fuselage, 40 folding seats, a strengthened cargo floor, and higher-altitude capable engines. This last feature was to become important when the C-46 began flying cargo "over the Hump" from India to China. The C-46 was found to have much better load-hauling capabilities than the C-47 at the altitudes involved. The Commando also served in the Pacific theater, where it moved troops and supplies from island to island, contributing to the defeat of Japan. In the European Theater, C-46s served as glider tugs, towing two CG-4 gliders at a time across the Rhine River.

Other versions of the aircraft included the R5C-1 (US Navy/Marine Corps designation); the C-46D (personnel version with an extra door on the right side); C-46E (utility version with C-46A doors and a stepped windscreen); and C-46F (cargo model with doors on both sides and square wingtip ends).

Well over 3,000 Commandos were built, and they remained in service through the Korean War. A few even served during the first years of the war in Vietnam. Today, a small number continue to fly in various capacities around the world, mostly as freighters in Central and South America.

Nicknames: Whale; T-Cat (C-46s modified to U.S. Civil Aviation transport-category standards.)

Specifications: (C-46A)
Engines: Two 2,000-hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-51 radial piston engines
Weight: Empty 30,000 lbs., Max Takeoff 45,000 lbs.
Wing Span: 108ft. 0in.
Length: 76ft. 4in.
Height: 21ft. 9in.
Maximum Speed: 270 mph
Cruising Speed: 173 mph
Ceiling: 24,500 ft.
Range: 3,150 miles
Armament: None
Number Built: 3,000+
Number Still Flying: 50+ (amazing huh?)

C-47 History:

The Douglas DC-3 was born of the intense competition for modern commercial aircraft that characterized the post-World War I era. It was the direct descendant of the DC-1, which first flew in 1933 as Douglas' initial response to a short supply of competitor, Boeing Aircraft's, landmark 10-passenger 247, the first, low-wing, all-metal airliner. With only one 12-passenger sample flying, and already a record-breaking success, the DC-1 was quickly made obsolete, replaced by an a more powerful version with greater seating capacity, the 14-passenger DC-2, of which 193 were built.

When, in 1934, American Airlines asked Douglas for a larger version of the DC-2 that would permit sleeping accommodations for transcontinental flights, Douglas responded with the 24 passenger (16 as a "sleeper" craft) DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport), the 24-passenger version of which was designated DC-3.

The DC-3 is given most of the credit for an almost 600% increase in airline passenger traffic between 1936 and 1941. Recognizing its great potential as a military transport, the United States Army specified a number of changes needed to make the aircraft acceptable for military use, including more powerful engines, the removal of airline seating in favor of utility seats along the walls, a stronger rear fuselage and floor, and the addition of large loading doors. A large order was placed in 1940 for the military DC-3, which was designated C-47 and became known as "Skytrain," a name it would soon be asked to live up to.

Used as a cargo transport to fly the notorious "Hump" over the Himalayas after the Japanese closed the Burma Road, and as a paratroop carrier in various campaigns from Normandy to New Guinea, the Douglas C-47 was one of the prime people movers of WWII where, in one form or another, it was manufactured by belligerents on both sides, after first having been licensed to Mitsui before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and to the Russians, who manufactured it under license as the Lisunov Li-2. During the war, Mitsui built their own version, via contract with the Showa and Nakajima companies, which built about 485 "Tabbys" (the code name given to the aircraft by the Allies) as the Showa L2D.

Known also as "Dakota" (British designation), R4D (U.S. Navy), "Skytrooper" and "Gooney Bird," the Douglas C-47 (USAAF) went through many modifications during its long service life, largely with respect to engine power ratings, but also with structural modifications for specific tasks like reconnaissance and navigation training. It was even tested as a floatplane, and as an engineless glider, a task it performed well, but too late in the war to matter. It was also used as a fighting machine as the AC-47D gunship ( "Puff, the Magic Dragon") of the Vietnam war, where the plane was equipped with three modernized Gattling guns (General Electric 7.62mm "Miniguns," each mounted and firing from the port side) for use as a "target suppressor," circling a target and laying down massive fire to eliminate or at least subdue the enemy position.

By war's end, 10,692 of the DC-3/C-47 aircraft had been built, with 2,000 Li-2s by the Soviets, and 485 Showa L2Ds by the Japanese, for a total of about 13,177. Between its first flight on December 17, 1935, and this writing, the DC-3 will have had 65 years of continuous service. From its pioneering of military airlifts over the hump, to its perfecting of the technique during the Berlin Airlift, the C-47 has been prized for its versatility and dependability, factors that explain its remarkable longevity as an active carrier worldwide. [History by Kevin Murphy] Thanks to Tex Gehman.

Nicknames: Gooney Bird; Super DC-3 (R4D-8); Skytrooper; Biscuit Bomber; Tabby (NATO code name for the Showa L2D); Cab (NATO code name for Lisunov Li-2); Dumbo (SC-47 Search-and Rescue variant); Sister Gabby/Bullshit Bomber (EC-47 dispensing propaganda-leaflets in Vietnam); Spooky/Puff the Magic Dragon (AC-47 Gunship); Dowager Dutchess; Old Methuselah; The Placid Plodder; Dizzy Three; Old Bucket Seats; Duck; Dak; Dakleton (South African C-47s which replaced their Avro Shackletons), Vomit Comet (Nickname used by US Army paratroops during the Normandy invasion.)

Specifications (C-47):
Engines: Two 1,200-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S1C3G Twin Wasp radial piston engines
Weight: Empty 16,865 lbs., Max Takeoff 25,200 lbs.
Wing Span: 95ft. 0in.
Length: 64ft. 5.5in.
Height: 16ft. 11.5in.
Maximum Speed: 230 mph
Cruising Speed: 207 mph
Ceiling: 23,200 ft.
Range: 2,125 miles
Armament: None
Number Built: 13,177 (All manufacturers)
Number Still Airworthy (All Variants): 300+ (more amazing huh?)

All photos/information Copyright of War Bird Alley

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