Glider - - Again! III. [Conclusion]

This is coolbert:

Allied and German forces both during World War Two [WW2] extensively employed gliders for their airborne operations. Glider-borne troops, following an initial parachute assault would bring reinforcement, supplies, heavier weapons, etc. right to the target consolidated in a unit, intact! A big advantage over parachute drops, which had a bad habit of dispersing paratroopers over a wide area, sometimes far from the intended drop zone. Airborne troops, that when landing and dispersed, had a much more difficult time of accomplishing their mission.

The German did have a well thought out protocol for parachute assault and further landings of airborne troops by glider. A lot of emphasis was placed on selection of suitable landing fields for gliders, and improvement where necessary.

Here thanks to the LoneSentry web site. Reprints of intelligence bulletins from World War Two [WW2] as published by American G2:

"'How Paratroops Clear Fields for Gliders from Intelligence Bulletin"

"The Germans are well aware that troops dropped by parachute must be supplied rapidly with sufficient reinforcements, equipment, ammunition, and rations . . . the Germans stipulate that the first mission of certain designated paratroopers, on landing in the jump area, is to improvise a landing field for gliders."

Subsequent to an initial assault by paratroopers, glider landings are prioritized as follows:

* "Reinforcement by air-landing troops [glider-borne] is the first use to which an improvised field is put."
* "Supplies which cannot be dropped are landed next"

"RECONNAISSANCE FOR SUITABLE FIELDS."

An ideal field, the Germans specify, is one which:

* "permits gliders to land regardless of the direction in which the wind is blowing."

The German preference is for:

* "a field near a road or path leading to the fighting troops."
* "It is regarded as essential that the surrounding obstacles permit a glide of at least '1 in 15.'"

[This means that the length of the landing field must be at least 15 times the height of the trees or other obstacles which fringe the field.]

* "provide each regiment with one glider landing field having at least two landing strips."

[American Special Operations troops employing gliders for long-range missions would not be landing in regimental force, perhaps only in company grade strength at the most.]

* "allow a number of gliders to land simultaneously."

The Germans regard the following as unfavorable features:

* "very rocky, uneven ground"
* "stony ground where the stones go deeper than 2 feet"
* "swampy or wooded ground"
* "ground with thick vegetation, ditches, stone walls, hedges, wire fences, etc."

The following . . are described as favorable features:

* "moderately soft ground with grass"
* "ground with tall grass and even a little vegetation"
* "farm land, even if furrowed"
* "corn fields (which are fairly easy to clear)"
* "sandy ground, even if it is somewhat pebbly"

Besides the above [preferences]:

* "the prevailing wind direction also influences the German choice of a field."

CONSTRUCTION OF LANDING FIELDS

* "All obstacles are removed, not only from the landing strip, but from a zone 65 feet wide on each side of the strip."
* "Uneven ground is leveled."

" Although normally every precaution is taken to lessen the danger of crash landings, the Germans follow an interesting procedure"

Under these circumstances [unfavorable], if time is very short or if the terrain presents great difficulties:

* "the Germans clear at least one-third of the landing strip"
* "Just off the landing strips, parking areas are prepared for the gliders already landed."
* "These parking areas are so arranged as not to hinder further development of the landing strip"
* "Vegetation stripped from the landing field is saved, and is used in camouflaging the parked gliders."

Furthermore:

* "The center of the landing strip is marked with identification panels for air recognition"
* "the wind direction is shown by a large T made with panels and, indicated when necessary, by smoke as well."

NO! A thousand times NO! DO NOT mark the landing strip with identification panels made of cloth or similar substance. Mark with paint if possible. Use smoke to indicate wind direction - - YES!

With regard to marking a landing field for gliders with cloth identification panels or similar markers that might get thrown up into the air, again - - see too this previous blog entry of mine.

If and when the decision was ever made by the U.S. military to again employ military gliders, the experience, lessons-learned, doctrinal considerations are already on the books and ready-to-go! Re-inventing the wheel is not necessary.

coolbert.

Design?

This is coolbert:

Here is an example of independent parallel design and development?

First, the American C-82 Packet. "The C-82 Packet was a twin-engine, twin-boom cargo aircraft used briefly by the United States Army Air Forces following World War II."



And the German Gotha Go 242. "The Gotha Go 242 was a transport glider used by the Luftwaffe during World War II."



"The Go 242 was designed by Albert Kalkert in response to a Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) requirement for a heavy transport glider . . . The requirement was for a glider capable of carrying 20 fully laden troops or the equivalent cargo."

Similar placement of the cockpit, the dual boom, high-wing. Of course the Packet has wheels [the glider had wheels and also lands on a skid running the length of the bottom?], and two engines [note too the windows on the GO 242 are lacking on the Packet]. But the basic design is remarkably similar? Espionage of some sort was involved? Or just logical minds at work arriving at a similar design based upon requirements?

coolbert.

Commentary - - Glider

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog:

"I've always been surprised that militaries don't use gliders anymore . . . they seem cheap to make. I am sure they could be built of "stealth" materials making them even harder to detect . . . When you jump out of a plane as a paratrooper, you are limited in the amount of stuff you can carry . . . I don't see why unmanned gliders that are remotely controlled couldn't be used for resupply either."

* Well, cheap to make, already stealthy, made of wood with doped canvas covering, NO engine, few metal parts. Towed by a conventional aircraft, say a AC-130, released a goodly distance from the target, swoops down upon the adversary, the troops disembark, the AC gunship turns around and from 8,000 feet gives the same combat support to the troops on the ground as if they had a nuclear weapon at their disposal. And you already have proven work-horse models such as the British Horsa that could be put back into production relatively easily and cheaply? THIS WOULD NOT COST A LOT OF BUCKS FOR A CAPABILITY THAT MIGHT DO SOME REAL GOOD? AND CAN BE DONE NOW?

* Those American paratroopers jump with about one hundred fifty [150] pounds on their back? Cannot hit the ground running and move toward the objective as you see in the movies. Jumping with the fighting load, the existence load, two chutes, all strapped to the body, is not only cumbersome, BUT DOWNRIGHT DANGEROUS!! I know American parachutists used to have a technique, and maybe still do, that would allow them to jettison the fighting and existence load just prior to impact to ease the paratroopers touchdown!! Just make sure you don't land on your own gear and hurt yourself!

* I guess the biggest drawback to gliders as used by the military was the inability, relatively speaking, for extraction. But that WAS NOT AN ISSUE DURING WW2! When employed paratroopers were to seize territory or objectives and THEN LINK UP WITH CONVENTIONAL MILITARY UNITS AND BE RELIEVED, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!

* See this web site. Blogged about this man and his company before. The resupply glider [actually a para-glider, more parachute than a conventional aircraft] is NOW? A concept at least embraced to a degree!

coolbert.

Gliders - - Again II

This is coolbert:

"Germania rules!" - - Bert.

Originally my favorite military glider from the World War Two [WW2] era, to be resurrected and used by the American military for special operations type missions was the British Horsa. Able to accommodate a platoon of troops in one aircraft, hopefully with each man carrying his fighting load.

As an alternative, the German WW2 military glider, the Go 242 is a "possible".

"The Gotha Go 242 was a transport glider used by the Luftwaffe during World War II."

"The Go 242 was designed by Albert Kalkert in response to a Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) requirement for a heavy transport glider to replace the DFS 230 then in service. The requirement was for a glider capable of carrying 20 fully laden troops or the equivalent cargo."

Would allow for a troop transport capacity twice what the DFS 230 allowed. Two squads in the Go 242 versus one in the DFS 230!

"Cargo versions of the glider . . . could accommodate a small vehicle such as a Kübelwagen [military version of the Volkswagen Beetle] or loads of similar size and weight."

There was evidently a cargo version and a troop carrying version? Distinct from one another?

The Do 242 had the capability to use rocket-assisted take-off [RATO] when too heavily laden! A variety of German military aircraft during WW2 used RATO. In this regard, at least during WW2, the German was unique?

"The glider was tested with rockets for overloaded take offs, a rack of four 48 kilogram Rheinmetall 109-502 take off rockets mounted on the rear of the cargo compartment. A second rocket called the 'R Device' was also used with the glider - it was a liquid-fuel Heinkel rocket engine R I-203 (HWK 109-500A) which was mounted beneath the wing on either side of the body and was ejected after takeoff, parachuting down to be recycled."

RATO take-off for a fully loaded and heavy glider. Useful in mountainous terrain where the air is "thin" and an assist is necessary to become airborne?

Please look carefully at the photo accompanying this blog entry. You can see what appears to be the RATO assembly at the rear of the cargo compartment?

And for those that would suggest - - "why not just develop your own military glider to your own specs?" - - I would respond - - "why bother to reinvent the wheel when the working proven product is already out there??"

coolbert.

Gliders - - Again I

This is coolbert:

[please see my previous blog entry on the subject of military gliders.]

Here is an English chap who is thinking along the same lines as I am. At least with regard to military gliders. Resurrection of a concept [military gliders], that was thought be gone in the same manner as the Dodo!!

"Lord Gilbert, defence minister of state formally responsible for intelligence during the Kosovo War, told the House of Commons Select Committee on Defence on 20 June 2000 that gliders could have been used to land troops in Kosovo. Neither Lord Gilbert nor the other politicians present appeared to be aware that this would not have been feasible . . . gliders . . . are not used [have not been used] in combat operations. No troop-carrying gliders have been in British service since 1957"

Lord Gilbert said - - COULD HAVE BEEN USED. If they were available, COULD HAVE BEEN USED. Were not available, but if they had been in the inventory, COULD HAVE BEEN USED!!

Gliders DO HAVE distinct advantages"

"gliders could land troops in greater concentrations precisely at the target landing area. Furthermore, the glider, once released at some distance from the actual target, was effectively silent and difficult for the enemy to identify."

Consider this amazing statistic:

"Out of the 2,596 gliders dispatched for Operation Market [Garden], 2,239 gliders were effective in delivering men and equipment to their designated landing zones."

Gliders would not be needed in profuse numbers? Only a limited number for use by Special Operations troops?

Several dozens total would suffice for special operations combat missions? World War Two [WW2] style gliders [able to carry a platoon of troops with impedimenta], with modifications and improvements - - ready to go in short order. This can be a NOW if the factory plans from the WW2 era are dusted off, glider-pilot veterans and after-action reports consulted, and the will is there!

Lord Gilbert is on the money? So is Bert? A feasible idea that has merit? I think so!

coolbert.

Glider Retrieval.

This is coolbert:

In a previous blog entry, I had discussed the use of gliders as a transport for ranger/commando troops employed in a very-long-range special operations type mission. A mission where the use of helicopters would NOT be possible, for a variety of reasons [range, stealth, etc.].

In the modern military, the glider has been rendered obsolete by the use of the helicopter? The latter has the ADVANTAGE of being able to retrieve troops! This a glider CANNOT DO?

For the most part, during World War Two [WW2], gliders were considered to be expendable items. Towed to the landing zone, glide to earth, land, disembark troops, and abandoned. But NOT TOTALLY SO!

Efforts were made to retrieve gliders from a landing zone. This was especially true in the China-Burma-India [CBI] theatre? And there were successes? This was called "The Snatch"!



Click on the photo to see a larger view!

Tow plane, trailing a tow hook, swoops done, engages a loop of rope suspended from two posts. That loop of rope in turn attached to the tow rope of the glider. "Whoosh" - - you and the glider are airborne and retrieved!!

There is also something incorrect and very dangerous here! NOT appreciated at the time or even now.

"Marker strip of white cloth as guide for tow plane"

NO!!

The use of engineering tape or similar to act as a guide for the tow plane would place the occupants of the glider in great danger. The prop wash from a low-flying transport has the ability to kick that tape up into the air, where it might get tangled in the controls of the glider, causing a crash perhaps of even both aircraft [tow plane and glider].

Strangely enough, back in my day [not that long ago even], the U.S. Army manual suggested that landing zones for helicopters be marked with white engineering tape. Each and every helicopter pilot - - upon hearing this - - would tell you - - instantaneously - - in no uncertain terms - - NO!!

[even approaching a helicopter on the ground wearing a soft cap on your head can be dangerous to all involved. The prop wash from the "chopper" can knock that hat off your head, to be sucked up into the engine - - causing a subsequent crash!! It HAS happened!!]

coolbert.

Gliders?

This is coolbert:

Is there a military future for the glider?

Gliders were used extensively by the German and Allied paratroop forces during World War Two [WW2]. Offered an alternative to the mass parachute drop of highly trained infantry on a drop zone well behind enemy lines.

[even with the intense physical training administered to parachute troops, a pretty high percentage still suffer some sort of injury upon landing, due to the heavy load they must carry! Even BEFORE engaging in combat, a unit will suffer a certain percentage of casualties!]

Towed by a transport or bomber aircraft to the landing zone, gliders allowed for an entire unit to be delivered intact on one location and with fewer casualties than would occur by parachute landing.

"Landing by parachute caused the troops to be spread over a large drop-zone, whereas gliders could land troops in greater concentrations precisely at the target landing area. Furthermore, the glider, once released at some distance from the actual target, was effectively silent and difficult for the enemy to identify."

Gliders as used by the warring parties during WW2 were generally considered to be EXPENDABLE ITEMS!! Used once behind enemy lines and then written off. Made of wood, covered by fabric, subject to damage upon landing in an unimproved field or even from enemy ground fire.

[Rommel’s asparagus was widely employed in Normandy to thwart glider landings by the Allied paratroop forces. Poles with wire strung between them, trip wired explosives and mines, all placed in fields that were judged by the German to be suitable for allied glider landings. There was a pretty high casualty rate among glider crews and troops carried within during the Normandy airborne operation?]



Gliders continued to be carried in the U.S. military inventory even until the mid-1960’s? At that time, were then considered to be obsolete, replaced by the rotary-wing helicopter. Helicopters were felt to be more flexible, ABLE TO DISEMBARK TROOPS ON A LANDING ZONE MORE EFFECTIVELY, AND ALSO RETRIEVE TROOPS AS WELL!!

"By the time of the Korean War, helicopters had replaced gliders. Helicopters have the advantage of being able to extract soldiers, in addition to delivering them to the battlefield."

The helicopter has TOTALLY replaced the glider as a means of delivering troops?

Perhaps NOT!

I can see a need for a LIMITED NUMBER of gliders to be used in selective special operations type missions. Missions that require glider-borne ranger/commando troops to be carried VERY or EXTREMELY long-distances over DENIED territory, towed by transport aircraft [MC-130 or AC-130], delivered to the target [landing zone] in a stealthy manner that a helicopter cannot hope to duplicate.

A limited number of glider aircraft could be very quickly added to the inventory, at the ready for special operations troops to use when needed.

Gliders along the lines of the British WW2 Horsa. Able to carry about a platoon of troops with impedimenta. A glider made of wood, with improvements, i.e., key critical structural components made of carbon fiber in the manner of modern aircraft.



[there are all sorts of after-action reports and glider pilot veterans from the era of WW2 that can be consulted regarding “how-to” improvements?]

A force of gliders, ready-to-go, with trained pilots can be readily assembled, cheaply, and be operational in short order?

* Pilots receive continual checkout and training in simulators or modified two-engine aircraft. Modified aircraft [by NASA] simulating the performance in flight of a glider. [Space Shuttle pilots currently practice landings in this manner!] An abundance of pilots, Army and Air Force, would be willing and able would “go for” this type of mission?



[those pilots should be prepared to FIGHT upon landing. Such will be the nature of glider-borne troop missions!]

* Towed to a landing zone by a USAF Special Operations MC-130 or AC-130 gunship. Troops on the ground after glider landing will have an enormous amount of fire support at their beck and call.

* Able to be retrieved via a towline attached to a STARS type system. Also have a capability for enhanced take-off during any stage of mission via JATO [jet-assisted-take-off] or similar apparatus?

[see an interesting wiki entry regarding German attempts to strap rockets on gliders.]

* Able to take-off and land on an aircraft carrier?

Gliders would be used in special operations missions such as Pegasus bridge from Normandy fame or a raid such as of the Israeli at Entebbe! A U.S. special operations force, ranger/commando type unit swoops silently out of the sky, swarming upon the enemy when and where they least expect it! This sort of thing is do-able? And NOW?

coolbert.

Gliders/Soaring II. [conclusion]

This is coolbert:

German development of sailplane flying and sport gliding was continuous through the pre-war years [World War Two].

Even more and more sophisticated and aerodynamically progressive designs being developed. German sailplane FLIERS demonstrating that they WERE the best in the world.

Sailplane development reaching a peak of development and sophistication of design with aircraft such as the DFS Reiher. For it's time, an aerodynamic gem without equal anywhere in the world.



"Hans Jacobs designed the Reiher for the international contest 1937 on the Wasserkuppe. It was layed out for highest performance and for easy handling at the contest. Its elegant shape shows the fine aerodynamics. The wing of the Reiher was designed to give the machine the highest performance of any contest machine of that time. With a proven L/D of 33:1, it is no surprise that it won the 1938 and 1939 contests."

And of course, lest we forget, one of the most outstanding practitioners of sport gliding/sailplane flying was Hanna Reitsch.



[please note the confined quarters of the sailplane cockpit. Hanna was what is called a diminutive woman, only 5 foot, one inch tall!!]

"Of those German students and aspiring aviators who established the sport of sailplane soaring was of course, Hanna Reitsch. The famous Hanna of pre-war [World War Two [WW2]] sailplane soaring fame. It can be said that Hanna took to sailplanes and soaring as a duck would take to water and then to the air!! A natural who excelled in a manner that few ever do!"

["as a duck would take to water". YES!]

"In the 1932, medical student Hanna Reitsch began soaring and went on to become one of the first few people to cross the alps in a glider."



[again, looked at how cramped those sailplanes are. You needed to almost shoe-horned into the cockpit!]

"In 1934 she set the world's altitude record for women (2,800 m.), three years later she made the first crossing of the Alps in a glider, and in 1938 the first indoor helicopter flight in the Deutschlandhalle, Berlin."

"From 1931, when she set the women's world record for non - stop gliding (five and a half hours), extended to eleven and a half in 1933, to her world record in non - stop distance flight for gliders (305 kms) in 1936, and her woman's gliding world record for point - to - point flight in 1939, Hanna Reitsch's feats were unrivaled."

"In February 1939 an expedition to Libya under the leadership of Prof. Walter Georgii took place. Hanna Reitsch participated with a Reiher."



This expedition to Libya is most interesting. Two thousand years earlier, the soldiers of the Roman Legions, marching through the Libyan Desert, commented with astonishment at the "dust devils" they saw. Enormous and long-lived thermals scooping the desert sand high into the atmosphere, creating an atmospheric effect that amazed all. Libya was and perhaps IS one of the best places in the world to do sailplane soaring utilizing thermals for lift.

"There is no doubt that she was an excellent sailplane pilot and a very courageous woman, but some of her escapades were down-right foolhardy."

"She flys a sailplane into a thundercloud and climb 100 mph to 10,500 feet and has the aircraft and controls lock up from icing. By the grace of God, she survives. Land with Hanna in a sailplane in the middle of a football game in South America. The landing was easy, but the crowd was not."

And the famous Hanna of post-war [WW2] sailplane heroics too!!

"After the war, German citizens were forbidden from flying. A few years later, gliding was permitted. In 1952, Reitsch, the only woman to compete, won third place in the World Gliding Championships in Spain. She continued to break records including the women's altitude record (6,848 metres) and became German champion in 1955."

"Several of her gliding records stand to this day."

"In the 1970s, she returned to break many gliding records in several categories, including the Women's Out and Return World Record in 1976 (715 km) and, in 1979, the Women's Out & Return World Record (802 km) flown on the Appalachian Ridges in the USA."

[Dig this!!! Hanna, even at age sixty nine [!!!] was still of World Record setting caliber!!]

[NOBODY - - NOBODY, COULD EVER DISPUTE THE FACT THAT HANNA WAS AN OUTSTANDING FLIER!!]

And a personality of international repute, with contacts at the highest levels of government, EVEN BEING INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!

In 1961, she was invited by US President John F. Kennedy to the White House."

"In 1959, she was invited to India by the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in order to establish a gliding centre."

"At the request of its president, Kwame Nkrumah, Reitsch lived in Ghana from 1962 to 1966, where she founded and ran the national gliding school."

[at the time, Nehru was head and co-founder of the non-aligned movement. Nations not taking sides in the Cold War. Nkrumah was head of the Pan-African movement, an African "big man" and a person who had pretensions to be a mover and shaker on the world stage!]

[my own perception is again, that someone like Hanna in those post-war years, all over the world as she was, in contact with heads of state, HAD TO BE IN CONTACT WITH THE GEHLEN ORGANIZATION AND WAS PASSING ON ALL MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE THAT SHE HAD GLEANED, MOSTLY PERHAPS, FROM JUST CASUAL CONVERSATIONS!!]

"In 1962 the national school of gliding was set up by Hanna Reitsch who was once Adolph Hitlers top personal pilot and under the command of Air Commordore de Graft-Hayford she was director, operations instructor and trainer as well as personal pilot for Kwame Nkrumah from 1962-1966."

As for the Nazi era, of which she was such an important part, well, Hanna never did forget her original loyalties and the honors she received:

"I am not ashamed to say I believed in National Socialism. I still wear the Iron Cross with diamonds Hitler gave me. But today in all Germany you can’t find a single person who voted Adolf Hitler into power."

"Then she uttered the words that for so long kept her out of the history books: 'Many Germans feel guilty about the war. But they don’t explain the real guilt we share – that we lost.'"

Nostalgic for the good old days? You decide?

coolbert

Gliders/Soaring I.

This is coolbert:

In the aftermath of World War One [WW1], the victorious allied powers sought to military emasculate Germany. Germany was seen by the victors as having been an aggressive military power with formidable potential, a threat to all nations of Europe.

The Versailles Treaty called for drastic reductions in German military might. Conditions that a defeated Germany had to comply with. This was very humiliating and galling to the German, having the strong military tradition that they did.

Conditions to include:

* A reduction in size of the German army to a force NOT to exceed 100,000 men total.

* The sinking of the German Navy in totality. German warships were towed to the British naval base at Scapa Flow and sunk. Every last one of them. Germany was left without a navy.

[the German Navy had been the pride of Kaiser Wilhelm. Considered to be his creation.]

* NO air force. For a period of time subsequent to the war, the German was not even allowed POWERED flight. NO aircraft could fly, period.

However, with regard to NO air force or even POWERED flight, this DID NOT stop the German from engaging in flying, aeronautical engineering, experimentation with flight, etc.

NO. The NO-POWERED-FLIGHT conditions of the Versailles Treaty, rather than hindering the German, stimulated them. Stimulated them to investigate the realm of gliders and creating what is known as sport gliding.

"As the treaty of Versailles forbid any form of powered flight in Germany, many young pilots and aircraft designers turned to gliding as a sport"

"After the First World War gliders were built in Germany for sporting purposes (See link to Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft). The sporting use of gliders rapidly evolved in the 1930s and is now the main application. As their performance improved gliders began to be used to fly cross-country and now regularly fly hundreds or even thousands of kilometers in a day, if the weather is suitable."

We are not talking here about a glider as the term is commonly and ordinarily understood. We are talking about a glider that has been aerodynamically designed to be flown in a manner to maximize flight performance.

"Soaring is usually achieved by flying through a mass of air that is ascending as fast or faster than the sailplane is descending, and thus gaining potential energy."

With a conventional glider, the aircraft is taken aloft by a tow plane to altitude and release, rapidly descending to the ground, under control all the time by the pilot and being flown in a conventional manner.

With a "sport" glider, often called a SAILPLANE, the aerodynamics allow for a pilot, more correctly called a FLIER, to utilize rising air masses to achieve an altitude GREATER than with which the sailplane took of from.

[with a glider, you normally cannot land at an altitude GREATER than which with you took off from. YOU CAN ACHIEVE AN ALTITUDE GAIN WITH A SAILPLANE. That is the difference.]

"The design of these types enables them to climb using rising air instead of merely descending. This has created the sport of gliding, or soaring. The term 'sailplane' is sometimes used for these types, implying a glider with a high soaring performance."

"Glider pilots can stay airborne for hours. This is possible because they seek out rising air masses (lift) from the following sources":

* Thermals.

* Ridge lift.

* Mountain wave.

Mountain wave flying is a variation of ridge-running allowing the glider to climb much higher . . . The world distance record of 3008 km by Klaus Ohlmann was also flown in the mountain wave in South America.

[I want to emphasize this. The man achieved a distance record for un-powered flight of over 3000 kilometers in a sailplane. All in one flight!!! That is what can be done with a sailplane in competent hands!!]

[with wave lift, extreme altitude can also be reached. Altitudes of in excess of 50,000 feet!! Further altitude could be gained, but was precluded as the cabin of the sailplane was not pressurized. The pilot could go higher, but would die in the process!!!]

The German seems to have take to the sport gliding as a duck takes to water. Several generations of fliers, designers, manufacturers, etc., developed new techniques and concepts for a "sport" that was brand-new and NOT EVEN BEING DONE ANYWHERE ELSE!!!

AN ENTIRE REALM OF AERONAUTICAL ENDEAVOR PREVIOUSLY NOT EVEN CONTEMPLATED BECAME REALITY, ALL DUE TO THE RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS OF THE VERSAILLES TREATY.

German sport gliding of course continued and was expanded under the Nazi regime. This was obviously seen as an excellent method of training fliers for the future Luftwaffe and creating again, a generation of aeronautical engineers and manufacturers whose skills soon would be utilized in the design and manufacturer of combat aircraft of the most advanced type.

"While under the Nazis, sailplane flying and training were taken over by the sport groups of the Hitlerjugend, research and glider construction continued in the new Deutsche Forschungsanstalt Für Segelflug (DFS) Up to world war II, RRG and DFS have been the main spearheads of German aeronautical design."

With the German and the development of sport gliding, we can see the adage "where there is a will, there is a way" is true!!

coolbert.