Silent wings of history: Retired major remembers an often-forgotten aerial program - American Glider Program

Airman, April, 2003 by Carie A. Seydel

When 81-year-old Dominic Devito, a retired major, decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps in 1942, it was because of his fascination for planes. But some of his fondest memories came from the glider program -- a little-known "weapon system" of the 1940s.

"I started working at Wright Field, [Ohio], in 1941 as an aircraft mechanic and enlisted in 1942," he said. "One afternoon I walked to the end of the hangar to watch a glider land. It was moving pretty fast when two men bailed out onto the runway."

His first exposure to gliders was in the fall of 1942.

Devito learned the two men were generals who requested a glider flight demonstration. Because the glider had no brakes, they jumped out when they thought it was getting too close to a B-24 preparing for takeoff. Although the generals were scraped up and limping, the pilot turned with the help of the B-24 propeller blast, landing the glider unscathed.

A few months later, as a buck sergeant, Devito was assigned to the glider unit.

"I asked [the program managers] why I was getting involved in gliders," he said. "I told them I liked fixing airplanes."

He never got an answer to his question, but didn't regret the move. Devito -- and two other airmen -- became glider gurus in the technical inspection branch.

Back in time

They soon learned of the 1920s glider revival. After World War I, according to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany wasn't allowed to have an air force with powered aircraft. Since gliders or paratroopers weren't restricted in the treaty, a glider program emerged as an alternative defense.

In the United States, with the advent of powered aircraft, military officials discounted the use of gliders. There wasn't significant evidence the glider was of real value as a weapons system until May 1940 when Fort Eben-Emael, a seemingly unapproachable Belgian fortress, was captured.

In the early morning hours of May 10, nine German DFS-230 assault gliders unexpectedly landed at the fort. With specific objectives, each team of seven to nine men helped seize most of the fort within 15 minutes. Even though outnumbered 10-to-one, the Germans captured the rest of the almost 1,000 Belgian soldiers in the tunnels of the underground complex by the next day. With 24 Belgian and six German casualties, the world's first airborne attack was a success.

In fact, the attack at Eben-Emael got the chief of the Army Air Corps, Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold's, attention. In February 1941, after studying engineless flight, glider production was approved.

Gliders were also used in World War II when in 1944 during the D-Day invasion they carried thousands of nurses, troops and equipment onto enemy fields, contributing to the defeat of Hitler's Army and ultimately to the Allied victory.

"Gliders were good to surprise people," Devito said. "You could sneak in quietly from miles away."

The War Department started the American Glider Program. It was headed by world-soaring distance record holder Lewin Barringer, until 1943 when his plane disappeared. Then the program was under the direction of Richard DuPont, special assistant to Arnold.

Several contractors started with the program, and 16 companies manufactured CG-4A cargo gliders over the years, but the most successful was the Waco Aircraft Co. of Troy, Ohio. Its glider had a steel tube fuselage, plywood wings and droppable gear that made it lighter while in tow. A spoiler was mounted on the wings, and a lever controlled it to decrease airflow over the wing so it came down faster. But with such large wings and a maximum tow speed of 150 mph, the CG-4A could only come down so fast.

Five months after DuPont's appointment, he joined Col. Ernest Gabel, a glider specialist, and W. Hawley Bowlus and C. C. Chandler, two expert glider pilots, when they took off on an XCG-16 glider flight to show its load capacity. Designed to carry about 7,000 pounds of cargo and soldiers, sand bags and ammunition were put in the gliders to simulate a full load. But the cargo wasn't tied down. When the C-60 Lockheed Loadstar towing it took off, the load shifted and forced the aircraft crew to cut the porpoising glider free because it tugged at the plane. Dupont and Gabel died when the glider crashed.

The glider mission became a family affair when DuPont's brother, Maj. Felix DuPont, was appointed the next program director.

Putting gliders to the test

Devito had the opportunity to test, inspect and fly several glider models from the United States and Europe.

"When we got done inspecting a glider, we flew in it," he said. "So we made sure they were ready to fly."

By 1945, the glider unit had helped develop and test almost every type of tactical glider to include assault, power and cargo gliders, like the CG-4A, XPG-1, XPG-2 and XPG-3.

To train glider pilots to safely pick up troops behind enemy lines, they tested different methods. One unique test subject was sheep. During the first test, a sheep was released from an aircraft and hung below it on a cable.