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The Soviet Union built the world's first military gliders starting in 1932, including the 16-seat Grokhovski G63, though no glider was built in quantity until World War II. During the war, there were only two light gliders built in series: Antonov A-7 and Gribovski G-11 – about 1,000 altogether.
Baynes Bat, (1943) experimental glider for testing design of a tank carrying glider; General Aircraft Hamilcar, (1942) 7 t (6.9 long tons) of cargo and 2 crew. 412 built. General Aircraft Hamilcar Mk. X, Motorised version with 2x Bristol Mercury 31 of 965 hp. 22 examples converted
The Waco CG-4 was the most widely used American troop/cargo military glider of World War II. It was designated the CG-4A by the United States Army Air Forces, [2] and given the service name Hadrian (after the Roman emperor) by the British. The glider was designed by the Waco Aircraft Company. Flight testing began in May 1942.
The CG-3A was the United States Army Air Force's first production troop-carrying glider. 300 CG-3A 9-place gliders were initially ordered, but 200 of these were cancelled. A few of the 100 built by Commonwealth Aircraft (formerly Rearwin Aircraft) were used as trainers for the improved CG-4A, but most remained in their shipping crates in ...
The Ju 52 towed the glider using a 40 metres (131 ft) cable or, in bad weather, a much shorter rigid bar connected by an articulated joint to the tow aircraft. The DFS-230 had the highest glide ratio (8:1) of any World War 2 military glider other than the Antonov A-7 .
The number of Hamilcars that the War Office required frequently fluctuated. In May 1942 the War Office asked GAL for 360 Hamilcars to be used in two major airborne operations, but this was found to be unrealistic; not only was the production rate for the glider far too slow to accommodate this large number, the same number of tugs needed to tow the gliders could not be found.
After landing, gliders were destroyed and pilots were sometimes taken back by aircraft. Gliders were also used to supply partisans in some areas in 1944. They were also used to transport sabotage groups behind enemy lines, though the small capacity of the A-7 made it not very suitable for such actions.
Gliders and towing planes were extremely [citation needed] vulnerable to interception by enemy aircraft while gliders were under tow. Gliders were also helpless against ground fire if they were detected before landing. Glider pilots, who were expensive to train and replace, suffered heavy casualties.