A Replacement for Parachutes

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

M

MIflyer

1st Lieutenant
7,484
15,900
May 30, 2011
Cape Canaveral
What if, rather than having airborne troops parachuting out of airplanes that you gave each soldier his own little airplane to fly into the landing zone?

That was the idea that Lockheed came up with in WWII. The result was the Little Dipper, an airplane that was hoped would not only improve air assault operations but give Lockheed a foot in the door for what was projected as the burgeoning private aircraft market after the war. Really too bad they did not build 20 or 30 thousand of these little scooters!

From an old issue of Air Progress.
 
Well, that's the same concept of towing a disposable glider full of paratroopers, though this seems more inefficient because each airplane carries only one man, it has an engine and the passenger is also the pilot, thus he needs some basic training on how to drive this thing back down to earth without getting killed.
 
The LZ would had to be not only some-what improved, but a large area, which wasn't readily available in Europe at the time.
The gliders landing in France in June '44 had a hell of a time, especially with hedgerows.

Great idea, though. I knew a guy who owned a surplus Interstate TDR and flew it out of SNA on occasion.
The average person had no idea that it was a flying bomb at one point.
 
Those pictures look awfully familiar.
The name of the airplane rings a distant bell, too.
I think I had that issue of Air Progress.
 
Can you imagine how much time it would take to train enough men for these to be used in any effective numbers.
You have to train fully effective infantry, or paratroopers, to fly .

I see a lot of casualties in training, and even more in combat.
 
Well, when you think about it, a few thousand of those little scooters flying into a combat area would send the Luftwaffe into hysterics. Strap some M-3 grease guns under the wings and you have instant CAS. And as far as any gear they could be carrying, it was normal procedure for paratroops to have a lot of their equipment dropped in separate packages.

By the way, I was never that impressed with the Airborne until I read September Hope, about the American end of Operation Market Garden. Talk about some tough soldiers!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

W
Here's a test for you all...
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
GrauGeist
Records for Jagdgeschwader 400
Replies
2
Views
371
Snautzer01
Aircraft comparison for operational-level wargames and alt history forums
Replies
8
Views
671
SaparotRob
A Thread for Data Files
2
Replies
35
Views
4K
GregP
I
Question on Luftwaffe protocols for missing aircraft??
Replies
17
Views
1K
Snautzer01
Menu
Log in
Register