Paragliding Ax
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Paragliding Ax
'Spark
-
pink_albatross
- Posts: 599
- Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:20 pm
- Location: Ellis from Arlington
"A SUPERB RUBBER HANDLED SOLID STEEL AXE FROM A WW2 PARAGLIDER USED TO CUT THEIR WAY OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM FUSALGE AND THROUGH WIRING ETC.STAMPED WITH THE MILITARY BROAD ARROW THE DATE 1945 AND THE LETTERS FL WEI L AND 27 N/I.A SUPERB USEFUL TOOL MEASURING 16 INCH LONG AND 7 AND HALF INCHES WIDE"
Okay... obviously with that reference to the aluminum fuselage and WWII, this is not our modern paraglider. What was the thing they used to call paraglider back then?
Maybe a sailplane with a motor? (para-sailplane -> para-glider?)
Am intrigued
-- ellis
Okay... obviously with that reference to the aluminum fuselage and WWII, this is not our modern paraglider. What was the thing they used to call paraglider back then?
Maybe a sailplane with a motor? (para-sailplane -> para-glider?)
Am intrigued
-- ellis
WW II 'Paraglider'
Ellis,
Duing WWII, as the Allies prepared for the invasion of 'Fortress Europe," they were rapidly training infantry soldiers as paratroopers, to use for advance assault from the air. The idea was to supplement the beach landings with air assault troops behind the German defensive structure. Howver, training partroopers was a lenghty and dangerous process. So, someone came up with the idea of using small troop-carrying aircraft to land behind the lines. One aircraft could carry 40 soldiers, and required training only one pilot rather than 40 paratroopers.
Thus came about the paratroop-glider, or paraglider.
To save money and other engineering details, these aerial troop carriers were one-time use gliders, rather than motored aircraft. They were towed across the Channel by large transport aircraft, released over France, and then piloted in to land (skid/crash) in the targeted landing fields. Troops would emerge, form up, and proceed with their assigned infantry mission.
As I aid, the trip was one way, one time - no relaunch. The gilders were lightweight, unpowered, relatively cheap.
Now, what about the pilot? His orders were simple: After you land, when the troops form up and head east, you make your way back to the west (coast), try to find Allied forces, and have them help get you back to England. Simple, eh?
One of my dad's good friends, Slick Toland, who I knew in Little Rock, and went to college with his daughter, was one of those pilots. He thought about that instruction to walk solo back to the west as a couple of hundred armed soldiers headed east together. He didn't like the image, so after he landed his glider, he grabbed an extra rifle, declared himself infantry, and joined up with a squad.
That may not have been his best life-decision. He was subsequently captured by the Germans, and sat out the rest of the war as a POW.
BW, I am surprised that the description talks about an aluminum fuselage. All the stuff I have seen on these assault troop gliders said they were made of wood.
Cragin
[quote="pink_albatross"]"A SUPERB RUBBER HANDLED SOLID STEEL AXE FROM A WW2 PARAGLIDER USED TO CUT THEIR WAY OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM FUSALGE AND THROUGH WIRING ETC.STAMPED WITH THE MILITARY BROAD ARROW THE DATE 1945 AND THE LETTERS FL WEI L AND 27 N/I.A SUPERB USEFUL TOOL MEASURING 16 INCH LONG AND 7 AND HALF INCHES WIDE"
Okay... obviously with that reference to the aluminum fuselage and WWII, this is not our modern paraglider. What was the thing they used to call paraglider back then?
Maybe a sailplane with a motor? (para-sailplane -> para-glider?)
Am intrigued
-- ellis[/quote]
Duing WWII, as the Allies prepared for the invasion of 'Fortress Europe," they were rapidly training infantry soldiers as paratroopers, to use for advance assault from the air. The idea was to supplement the beach landings with air assault troops behind the German defensive structure. Howver, training partroopers was a lenghty and dangerous process. So, someone came up with the idea of using small troop-carrying aircraft to land behind the lines. One aircraft could carry 40 soldiers, and required training only one pilot rather than 40 paratroopers.
Thus came about the paratroop-glider, or paraglider.
To save money and other engineering details, these aerial troop carriers were one-time use gliders, rather than motored aircraft. They were towed across the Channel by large transport aircraft, released over France, and then piloted in to land (skid/crash) in the targeted landing fields. Troops would emerge, form up, and proceed with their assigned infantry mission.
As I aid, the trip was one way, one time - no relaunch. The gilders were lightweight, unpowered, relatively cheap.
Now, what about the pilot? His orders were simple: After you land, when the troops form up and head east, you make your way back to the west (coast), try to find Allied forces, and have them help get you back to England. Simple, eh?
One of my dad's good friends, Slick Toland, who I knew in Little Rock, and went to college with his daughter, was one of those pilots. He thought about that instruction to walk solo back to the west as a couple of hundred armed soldiers headed east together. He didn't like the image, so after he landed his glider, he grabbed an extra rifle, declared himself infantry, and joined up with a squad.
That may not have been his best life-decision. He was subsequently captured by the Germans, and sat out the rest of the war as a POW.
BW, I am surprised that the description talks about an aluminum fuselage. All the stuff I have seen on these assault troop gliders said they were made of wood.
Cragin
[quote="pink_albatross"]"A SUPERB RUBBER HANDLED SOLID STEEL AXE FROM A WW2 PARAGLIDER USED TO CUT THEIR WAY OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM FUSALGE AND THROUGH WIRING ETC.STAMPED WITH THE MILITARY BROAD ARROW THE DATE 1945 AND THE LETTERS FL WEI L AND 27 N/I.A SUPERB USEFUL TOOL MEASURING 16 INCH LONG AND 7 AND HALF INCHES WIDE"
Okay... obviously with that reference to the aluminum fuselage and WWII, this is not our modern paraglider. What was the thing they used to call paraglider back then?
Maybe a sailplane with a motor? (para-sailplane -> para-glider?)
Am intrigued
-- ellis[/quote]
Paragliding Ax
They were huge transport gliders that were towed behind C-47's or such.
Carried a bunch of airborne troops. The pilots didn't get to practice
in them much because they were apparently difficult to control and
crashed often. Maybe the "para" was because the gliders carried
paratroopers? The Russians had a different approach: jumping out of
airplanes at low altitudes WITHOUT parachutes and relying on soft
landings in snow. There is a certain attrition rate (broken legs,
etc.) in all parachute drops; the Russians just accepted a somewhat
higher rate... - Hugh
On 26 May 2005, at 17:19, pink_albatross wrote:
> "A SUPERB RUBBER HANDLED SOLID STEEL AXE FROM A WW2 PARAGLIDER USED TO
> CUT THEIR WAY OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM FUSALGE
> AND THROUGH WIRING ETC.STAMPED WITH THE MILITARY BROAD ARROW THE DATE
> 1945 AND THE LETTERS FL WEI L AND 27 N/I.A SUPERB USEFUL TOOL
> MEASURING 16 INCH LONG AND 7 AND HALF INCHES WIDE"
>
> Okay... obviously with that reference to the aluminum fuselage and
> WWII, this is not our modern paraglider. What was the thing they used
> to call paraglider back then?
>
> Maybe a sailplane with a motor? (para-sailplane -> para-glider?)
>
> Am intrigued
>
> -- ellis
>
>
>
>
Carried a bunch of airborne troops. The pilots didn't get to practice
in them much because they were apparently difficult to control and
crashed often. Maybe the "para" was because the gliders carried
paratroopers? The Russians had a different approach: jumping out of
airplanes at low altitudes WITHOUT parachutes and relying on soft
landings in snow. There is a certain attrition rate (broken legs,
etc.) in all parachute drops; the Russians just accepted a somewhat
higher rate... - Hugh
On 26 May 2005, at 17:19, pink_albatross wrote:
> "A SUPERB RUBBER HANDLED SOLID STEEL AXE FROM A WW2 PARAGLIDER USED TO
> CUT THEIR WAY OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM FUSALGE
> AND THROUGH WIRING ETC.STAMPED WITH THE MILITARY BROAD ARROW THE DATE
> 1945 AND THE LETTERS FL WEI L AND 27 N/I.A SUPERB USEFUL TOOL
> MEASURING 16 INCH LONG AND 7 AND HALF INCHES WIDE"
>
> Okay... obviously with that reference to the aluminum fuselage and
> WWII, this is not our modern paraglider. What was the thing they used
> to call paraglider back then?
>
> Maybe a sailplane with a motor? (para-sailplane -> para-glider?)
>
> Am intrigued
>
> -- ellis
>
>
>
>