# Best/Most Sucessful Glider of WWII



## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 28, 2005)

ok let's be 'aving you're thoughts, note powered gliders don't count.........


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 28, 2005)

oh yeah, my vore for best AND most sucessful goes to none other than the Airspeed A.S.51 and A.S.58 Horsa.............


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## plan_D (Apr 28, 2005)

The Horsa gets my vote, if there was a vote.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 28, 2005)

yeah i wudda put a vote but i couldn't be arsed to compile a list of gliders..........


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## Glider (Apr 28, 2005)

Has to be the Horsa, nothing else came close.


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## Jank (Apr 28, 2005)

Waco CG-4A

http://www.inkart.com/images/Vector/WacoGlider_CG4A.jpg


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## BombTaxi (Apr 28, 2005)

The Horsa gets my vote too... although it would have been impossible without the German DFS230. This was the glider that stormed Eben Emael, and arguably gave the Allies the idea for the Horsa, D-Day and Market Garden (not to mention the Rhine airlandings)


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## evangilder (Apr 28, 2005)

I would have to go with the General Aircraft Hamilcar.

_The Hamilcar entered RAF service in 1942, and was the largest wooden aircraft the RAF ever operated. With a wingspan of 110 feet, the Hamilcar was the only Allied glider capable of carrying a light tank. 40 troops or artillery pieces could be carried as alternative loads. Hamilcars were used on the 'D' Day landings and at Arnhem, as well as on other operations._


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## plan_D (Apr 28, 2005)

I don't think they ever carried tanks though, unless it was them who dropped in the Locusts on the Rhine crossing.


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## evangilder (Apr 28, 2005)

Yes, it was for Operation Varsity (Northern Rhine Crossing), part of Operation Plunder. The Hamilcars did carry tanks, not sure which. You know more about armor than I do.


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## BombTaxi (Apr 29, 2005)

The light tank in the pics is the Locust, an American design designated M22 by the US Army. It was armed with a 37mm cannon. The British had thier own equivalent called Tetrarch, with a 40mm gun, and I believe both were used during Op Varsity.


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## plan_D (Apr 29, 2005)

The 'tank' in the second picture appears to be a Bren Gun Carrier or some variant of it. 
The first picture I have in a book, it's a M22 in British service during training, 1944. The US never used the M22 for any airdrop because it lacked any feasible way of transporting it. Only a few were used on the Rhine Crossing by 6th Airborne but I don't know the exact number. 

The Tetrach was carried into D-Day by the Hamilcar Gliders along with the Universal Gun Carriers. Small in number, they provided little assistance. 
The Hamilcar itself was solely designed around the idea that it would carry the Tetrach into combat. Soon proving capable of carrying the Locust too.


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## evangilder (Apr 29, 2005)

They didn't build alot of Hamilcars, but the ones they built seemed to do fairly well. I don't have the number of armored vehicles they used in Plunder/Varsity either, but I would think you are right, not very many. I have seen the number of 440 gliders used for Varsity, but that was both Hamilcars and Horsas. That was the British gliders anyway. The Americans were using the Waco CG-4s for their landings.


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 29, 2005)

Ill have to say the Horsa. Heck, my alter-ego loved it!


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 29, 2005)

ah i remember him.........


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 29, 2005)

I dont


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## Concorde247 (Apr 29, 2005)

Its gotta be the horsa... 8)


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## mosquitoman (Apr 29, 2005)

Hamilcar, for sheer load carrying capability


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 29, 2005)

But the Horsa is a kick ass plane...


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## Wildcat (Apr 30, 2005)

I'd say the Horsa as well.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 30, 2005)

well i perposefully put "Best/Most Sucessful" in the title as this way we can have two planes, the hamilcar for best, the horsa for most sucessful...........


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 30, 2005)

For me the Horsa shall always be associated with Pegasus Bridge (Been there!)


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## Concorde247 (Apr 30, 2005)

mosquitoman said:


> Hamilcar, for sheer load carrying capability




If you want capacity why not go for the ME321?


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 30, 2005)

Good point


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## mosquitoman (Apr 30, 2005)

Because they got shot down in droves


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 30, 2005)

Damn why dont pwered gliders count, oh how I would love to pick the Komet.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 30, 2005)

hey, you, why'd you delete my post??

but don't forget the horsa could take her share of the heavy stuff too, two jeeps at least, i know it's not a tank but if i can't have a tank i'd rather have a jeep than nothing at all...............


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## mosquitoman (Apr 30, 2005)

Actually I'd prefer a jeep- it's faster!


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## cheddar cheese (Apr 30, 2005)

I didnt delete anyones post lanc. I think youre either misreading things or going senile


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## the lancaster kicks ass (May 12, 2005)

right so what are we deciding on??


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## cheddar cheese (May 12, 2005)

Horsa.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (May 12, 2005)

for best and most sucessful??


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## cheddar cheese (May 12, 2005)

Yes


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## the lancaster kicks ass (May 12, 2005)

i'll go along with that.........


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## FLYBOYJ (May 12, 2005)

WACO CG-4 GLIDER DEVELOPMENT MISHAP!  

"The program got off to a rocky start. The first time gliders were used in combat was in Sicily. They were to land on a beach, and the approach was made over water. Many of the gliders were released too far away to make land, and crashed in the ocean too far from land for the soldiers to swim. Approximately 300 men were presumed drowned. Shortly thereafter, in a demonstration flight over St. Louis, a wing separated from a Waco glider carrying the mayor of the city and the President of the Waco Company. All aboard were killed. The military decided to step back and take another look."
_By John Lorenz_


From Silent Wings museum intro page


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (May 17, 2005)

I would go with the Horsa.


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## cheddar cheese (May 17, 2005)

How did the German DFS 230 compare?


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (May 17, 2005)

I dont think it was used to much, I am not very aware of how good it was either.


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