Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: bateskm@clutx.clarkson.edu (Gargoyle,207VanNote,2652180,2683942) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Airborne Glider Infantry Message-ID: <1990Jul5.020512.14255@cbnews.att.com> Date: 5 Jul 90 02:05:12 GMT References: <1990Jul3.031911.6890@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY Lines: 44 Approved: military@att.att.com From: "Gargoyle,207VanNote,2652180,2683942" >From article <1990Jul3.031911.6890@cbnews.att.com>, by hpb@hpb.cis.pitt.edu (Harry Bloomberg): > > > From: hpb@hpb.cis.pitt.edu (Harry Bloomberg) > > 1) What are the trade-offs one must concider when deciding how to > deliver paratroopers to the target area? When do you want > to use gliders and when do you want your paratroopers to jump directly > out of aircraft? US Army airborne glider units are no longer active so the point is moot. > 2) Does the US still use gliders? If we no longer use them, when did > we abondon them? In my years in the defense industry, and as an avid > reader of Aviation Week, I can't remember hearing about paratrooper > gliders, so I suspect they're no longer in service. Glider airborne was experimented with in WW2 and a unit was formed, although I can't remember the unit designation (something like 157th Airborne Glider Infantry...). They were deactivated shortly after the war and now we use T-10c and MC1-B high performance parachutes for combat jumps. HALO and LALO 'chutes are another story, however. > 3) Are gliders currently used by anyone else? Couldn't say, but I don't believe so...see #4. > 4) How many men could be carried by a glider, how large were they, > what was the range, how well did they work, etc? The gliders we used were one-seat birds towed behind larger powered aircraft. >From photos I've seen I'd estimate they were the size of a cessena with a larger wingspan. The main reasons we abandoned them were that they were not recoverable (most crash-landed and in enemy territory, who's going to go pick them up?) and parachute deliveries were cheaper and faster. For LOTS more information on this, try the Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning, GA (where Airborne school is located). If anyone has any hard data? please post it. Hope this adds a little... Airborne (actually I'm still connected to the 507th Para. Inf. Reg.), Air Assault Gargoyle