Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: terryy@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Terry Yeung)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Airborne operations
Message-ID: <1990Jul8.053450.8014@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 8 Jul 90 05:34:50 GMT
References: <1990Jul3.031911.6890@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jul5.020538.14365@cbnew!
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 41
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: terryy@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Terry Yeung)
In article <1990Jul6.032802.27798@cbnews.att.com> jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.!
>
>
>From: jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam)
>>From: nulspace@eng.umd.edu (Michael Chang)
>>Gliders allow you to bring in heavy equipment, such as small vehicles and
>>artillery pieces.  Try to attach a parachute to a 105mm howitzer sometime...
>
>I don't want to nit-pick, because your basic argument is right on the
>money:  but I don't think the U.S. Army's WWII gliders would have been
>capable of carrying a 105mm how, either.  Smaller tubes, yes, but the
>105 is a bit large... (anyone know for sure?).

Yes, you're right.  The artillery pieces carried in the gliders were 75mm
guns.  I don't believe they ever carried 105mm in their gliders.

>
>By the way (you may already know this), there is no problem "these
>days" with strapping parachutes on 105mm's; it is done all the time.
>In fact, there are even larger loads that can come down by parachute,
>like pans (earthmoving scrapers; the really low-slung tractors that
>look like they have a square earth-holding pan right in the center)
>and tanks (Shermans).
>

As a matter of fact some of the 75mm guns used by the airborne troops can be
broken down into several smaller components.  These pieces would be dropped
with the troops who would assemble them later on the ground.  Only problem
was they sometimes lost pieces which might have fallen into a river or
someplace where they can't extract it.  There was a lot of problems with
cargo dropped into the marshes on the D-Day assault.

[mod.note:  These were known as Pack Howitzers.  Most nations had
similar designs, as they were also quite useful for mountain troops.
- Bill ]

                                Terry Yeung
                                terryy@ocf.berkeley.edu