USE OF GLIDERS IN INVASION
that the Germans were using gliders in France to transport small parties of men to attack isolated positions, and there have been other reports that large numbers of gliders had been taken to Norway by the Nazis, assembled and stored ready for use. Some of these machines, it has been stated, are covered with transparent fabric, so that at height they are practically invisible. These stories may contain some truth, says the Air Correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. Towed gliders and "flying trains" have been experimented with in the United States, France, Russia and Germany, and there are no technical difficulties in constructing a glider which would carry 12 to 14 men. As a troop-carrier, such a machine would have some advantages over an aeroplane, the most obvious being that it would be absolutely silent in flight. And since it would have no engines and would carry no fuel, its lowwing loading would allow it to be landed easily in rough and undulating country. It should be noted, too, that when an aeroplane is towing a glider, the former’s speed is not greatly reduced, and it would therefore be feasible for one powered aircraft to tow several gliders at a fairly high speed. In experiments with towed gliders, it has been found that the towing cable has to be at least one hundred yards in length to ensure safety in flight, and therefore in making a take-off with a "flying train" an immense aerodrome would be required. In Russia, this has been overcome by fitting each glider with a drum, round which is wound the towing cable. Each cable is thus unwound as each glider in turn is drawn forward and made air-borne by the towing ’plane. What chance of success would be open to the enemy in using the glider as a troop-carrier or for transporting supplies to an invading army is a matter for debate. The advantages of silent approach, ease of landing, and partial invisibility are counterbalanced by a lack of speed, limited manoeuvrability and armament, so that only by using these machines with the utmost stealth and when no opposition in the air could be given, does the glider attack appear likely to be effective. in 1940, there were reports
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 97, 2 May 1941, Page 3
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379USE OF GLIDERS IN INVASION New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 97, 2 May 1941, Page 3
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