Waco CG-4A

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Waco CG-4A
Waco CG-4A
Type: Glider
Design country:

United StatesUnited States United States

Manufacturer:

Waco Aircraft Company

First flight:

1942

Commissioning:

1942

Production time:

1942 to 1945

Number of pieces:

approx. 13,900

The Waco CG-4 Haig (referred to as Hadrian by the British Air Force ) was a cargo glider of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II that was frequently used from 1942 onwards .

The first flight tests began in 1942. A total of 15 manufacturers including the Wicks Aircraft Company of Kansas City (Missouri) produced more than 12,000 CG-4A. 1074 CG-4A were from the Waco Aircraft Company in Troy (Ohio) produced.

The CG-4A were made of plywood and metal. Each sailor was flown by a pilot and a co-pilot. 13 soldiers with equipment or a jeep or a quarter-ton truck or a 75-mm howitzer could be transported. The gliders were loaded through their opened bow section. After landing, the aircraft were immediately unloaded and then abandoned. Usually Curtiss C-46 or Douglas C-47 Dakota were used as a tow plane .

Mission history

On August 6th, Whiteman Air Force Base was established as Sedalia Glider Base . Training flights with CG-4A were carried out on their airfield. In November 1942, the facility was renamed Sedalia Army Air Field and placed under the 12th Troop Carrier Command of the United States Army Air Forces.

In July 1943 the Waco CG-4A was used for the first time during Operation Husky in Sicily . On June 6, 1944 ( D-Day ), cargo gliders of the type CG-4A were also used in large numbers. Other important missions followed in Europe, China , India and Burma . The gliders were used until the end of the war.

The CG-4 were not as well known as the larger Airspeed Horsa , but they could land in smaller places and were used, for example, in Yugoslavia for partisan support.

production

Acceptance of the Waco CG-4 by the USAAF:

version 1942 1943 1944 1945 TOTAL
CG-4 804 5,833 4,280 2,988 13,905

Technical specifications

Three-sided tear
CG-4A in the UK at Operation Market Garden
Parameter CG-4A data
length 14.8 m
span 25.5 m
Wing area 83.6 m²
height 4.7 m
Top speed 192 km / h
crew 2 (pilot, copilot)
Passengers 13 soldiers with equipment
Empty mass 1769 kg
Flight mass 3400 kg

Web links

Commons : Waco CG-4  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Statistical Digest of the USAF 1946, p. 110