Green Light - Air Force Historical Studies Office

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166 Gliding 3. Col. Samuel T. Moore, in an official survey of all of troop carrier, ob- served that for glider personnel “morale was always a problem.” Ch. 2, p. 48. See also the advice of Major Frank J. Moore, a highly experienced glider pilot in the 51st TCW (MTO), who said his glider pilots felt like stepchildren until his wing commander pulled the glider pilots out of the individual squadrons and formed them into a separate “wing glider base.” <strong>Air</strong> Contact Unit returnees’ report of Dec. 18, 1944.
10. Engineering What It Took to Keep ‘Em Flying Fly it or junk it? If somebody asked me to describe the one event in the history of the 81st TCS that best epitomizes the kind of war we fought, I would choose the narrow escape of David Brack’s plane from the junkyard (an episode referred to in another connection in Chapter 8). Brack’s plane was hit heavily at least five times by flak, and the rudder and aileron cables were severed. He ordered his co-pilot to hit the release lever to cut off the glider he was towing, and with an extraordinary display of piloting skill he managed to turn his crippled plane around and get it safely back down on the ground at an airport near Brussels, which was in Allied hands. (The glider, however, had been cut off over enemy territory and its pilot suffered some terribly damaging experiences in a German prisoner-of-war camp.) I Rather than abandoning the plane in Brussels for salvage-something that would have been quite justifiable given the plane’s condition-Brack ar- ranged to have Pappy Harris, our Line Chief, flown from Membury to Brussels to see if he could get the plane in shape to fly back across the Channel. Brack always said it was his ambition to fly the same plane back from Europe to the States that he had flown from the States to Europe. My job was to get that airplane back in flying status. I got a couple of mechanics and we flew over to Brussels. As it happened, I was able to do most of the work by myself. But you have to put “flying status” in quotation marks. When we later got the plane to a depot in England, some officer there-maybe with tongue in cheek-said he was going to try to court- martial me for allowing that plane, in that condition, to be flown: the idea being that I had endangered the lives of the crew and passengers by permit- ting them to fly an aircraft that should not have been considered airworthy. In Brussels, when we stripped away what we had to in order to get at the severed cables, there was no floor left in the plane; I had to rip it all out and just junk it. To fix up the cables 1 took a welding torch and some spare cables and brazing rod. Since parts of the bulkheads that supported the cable
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ATroop Carrier Squadron's War From
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"Five (5) minutes out from the DZ [
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Thirty-eight veterans of troop carr
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Contents Preface / vii Maps 1 xiv 1
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Party of the first part On the glid
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Hell on the ground Assessing VARSIT
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A Troop Carrier Squadron's War From
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2 Starting Up Navy or for cushy adm
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4 Starting Up Command); Wing (ours
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6 Starting Up worked in a gas stati
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8 Starting Up istrative action, Squ
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10 Starting Up along, a couple of o
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12 Starting Up with Ginger Rogers a
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74 Starting Up afflicted that when
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16 Starting Up Cadet flight schools
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18 Starting Up pilot made a very st
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20 Starting Up flying possible. Whe
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22 Starting Up The 436th was the fi
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24 Starting Up There were countless
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26 Getting Blooded prison. Eight gl
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28 Getting Blooded terattack but al
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30 Getting Blooded jumps that many
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32 Getting Blooded Troop carrier‘
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34 Getting Blooded happened off the
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Airborne Operations Before Our Time
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3. Traveling On the Road to Our War
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Making friends: Ed Smith (communica
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On the Road to Our War 47 The Briti
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On the Road to Our War 49 out of ga
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52 Traveling Crew chiefs would repo
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54 Traveling We used PX lighter flu
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56 Traveling rather than jostling f
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4. Getting With It Training and Tou
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Stand in the door! Paratroopers pra
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62 Getting With It We had a whole b
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Training and Tourism in the ETO 65
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Celebrating the opening of our offi
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To Normandy and Back 79 airborne ar
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To Normandy und Buck 81 toward the
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To Normandy and Back 03 As it turne
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To Normandy and Back 05 Certainly o
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To Normandy and Back 07 shot at thi
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Thirty minutes to go: Colonel Willi
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To Normandy and Back 91 headed out
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94 Assaulting ing right on the mark
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96 Assaulting in the static lines.
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6. Reinforcing Our Normandy Glider
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100 Reinforcing the 37 mm antitank
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102 Reinforcing We were only 500 fe
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The huge British Horsa, the glider
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106 Reinforcing even started to slo
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108 Reinforcing where we were heade
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I1 0 Reinforcing 2. Koskimaki, pp.
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1 12 Evaluating scared as they were
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11 4 Evaluating trooper missions al
Page 132 and 133: I1 6 Evaluating chute medics. These
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Page 136 and 137: 120 Evaluating attack. A small part
Page 138 and 139: 122 Evaluating being thrown down to
Page 140 and 141: 124 Evaluating 10. 1 have checked t
Page 142 and 143: 126 Flying lots could not help but
Page 144 and 145: 128 Flying Our liaison officer with
Page 146 and 147: 130 Flying a bevy of small single-e
Page 148 and 149: 132 Flying the 82nd Commander told
Page 150 and 151: 134 Flying Another source of frayed
Page 152 and 153: 136 Flying the principles of naviga
Page 154 and 155: 138 Flying chief, with my back agai
Page 156 and 157: 140 Flying out of the radios than w
Page 158 and 159: 142 Flying couldn’t believe I was
Page 160 and 161: 144 Flying flying personnel handled
Page 162 and 163: 146 Gliding You can find our Americ
Page 164 and 165: 148 Gliding us over the landing zon
Page 166 and 167: 150 Gliding grate. Some of them wer
Page 168 and 169: 152 Gliding and make dead stick lan
Page 170 and 171: 154 Gliding base, target practice,
Page 172 and 173: 156 Gliding visions, since they fou
Page 174 and 175: 158 Gliding loads came in too fast
Page 176 and 177: 160 Gliding The Germans were sendin
Page 178 and 179: 162 Gliding when referring to C-47
Page 180 and 181: 164 Gliding paper and lit it. Talk
Page 184 and 185: 168 Engineering pulleys had been bl
Page 186 and 187: 170 Engineering The idea was that w
Page 188 and 189: 172 Engineering Parachute riggers,
Page 190 and 191: 174 Engineering from higher echelon
Page 192 and 193: , 176 Engineering rons would be rea
Page 194 and 195: 178 Engineering Room whenever they
Page 196 and 197: 180 Engineering even had to haul ou
Page 198 and 199: 182 Engineering Morale on the line
Page 200 and 201: 104 Engineering seven. In times lik
Page 203 and 204: How to Run Combat Operutions 187 wa
Page 205 and 206: How to Run Combat Operations 189 ha
Page 207 and 208: How to Run Combat Operations 191 gu
Page 209 and 210: How to Run Combat Operations 193 pe
Page 211 and 212: How to Run Combat Operations 195 Wa
Page 213 and 214: How to Run Combat Operations 197 wa
Page 215 and 216: How to Run Combat Operations 199 Bo
Page 217 and 218: Communications characters. Front, l
Page 219 and 220: How to Run Combat Operations 203 se
Page 221 and 222: How to Run Combat Operations 205 Th
Page 223 and 224: How to Run Combat Operations 207 Ev
Page 225 and 226: How to Run Combat Operations 209 2.
Page 227 and 228: How to Run a Squadron 21 1 Long bef
Page 229 and 230: The Orderly Room bunch at TARFU Bou
Page 231 and 232: How to Run a Squadron 215 Anybody w
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How to Run u Squadron 217 fall camp
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Group Commander Adriel Williams vis
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How to Run a Squadron 221 you expec
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How to Run a Squadron 223 middle of
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How to Run a Squadron 225 would be
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Troop Carrier Freighting Potential
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An early medical evacuation mission
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230 Breaking Out the lack of gas. S
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240 Breaking Out flying until the B
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242 Breaking Out K-rations for brea
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244 Breaking Out made particularly
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246 Breaking Out 15. This is the co
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248 Sunning out, our part of the ai
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81st TCS planes in Italy training w
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252 Sunning Naples. It was easy to
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254 Sunning For the remainder of 19
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256 Sunning ing the 50th and 53rd T
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The Assuult on Southern France 259
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The Assault on Southern France 261
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One of the gliders towed by the 81s
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When in Rome: Pilots enjoying a bar
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15. MARKET-GARDENING ”Airborne Ca
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“Airborne Carpet” or “Hell’
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Our first briefing for the invasion
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Paratroopers and their equipment ne
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282 MARKET-GARDENING bridge over th
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284 MARKET-GARDENING it as “a par
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286 MARKET-GARDENING armor. Jumping
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288 MARKET-GARDENING over us to let
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290 MARKET-GARDENING I was seated o
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292 MARKET-GARDENING If any of us n
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294 MARKET-GARDENING pushed off the
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296 MARKET-GARDENING 17. As it happ
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298 Falling Short deteriorating wea
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300 Falling Short right there; and
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302 Falling Short of the airborne G
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304 Falling Short A minute or two a
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306 Falling Short to clouds and fog
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308 Falling Short MARKET-GARDEN fal
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31 0 Falling Short began, finally,
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312 Falling Shorl A few miles up th
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314 Falling Short major Allied thru
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316 Falling Short 5. Dank, pp. 170,
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17. Reassessing Glider Potential an
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Some Horsas had cordite explosives
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322 Reassessing Of course we knew t
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324 Reassessing empty (more than 8,
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326 Reassessing This happened in la
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328 Reassessing right on through th
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m rr 0
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332 Reassessing Before we left Engl
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334 Reassessing bie, and myself. On
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336 Reassessing Glider pilots were
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18. Re-Supplying The Battle of the
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340 Re-Supplying let go of any troo
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342 Re-Supplying still secret.) Art
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t N
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346 Re-Supplying Membury shortly af
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348 Re-Supplying On Christmas morni
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350 Re-Supplying weather turned ext
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352 Re-Supplying operator and a con
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354 Re-Supplying the dreary-looking
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356 Re-Supplying Our main airborne
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358 Re-Supplying 4. October 3, 5, 7
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360 Camping Out living area were la
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362 Camping Out living quarters wer
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364 Camping Out take a jeep into th
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366 Camping Out lineman before the
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368 Camping Out nel and equipment a
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370 Camping Out The first time I sa
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372 Camping Out American soldiers s
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374 Camping Out ran the risk of get
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20. Supporting Montgomery Preparati
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378 Supporting Montgomery through t
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380 Supporting Montgomery risk of u
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382 Supporting Montgomery American
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384 Supporting Montgomery Our plane
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386 Supporting Montgomery 3. Severa
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The Drop Across the Rhine 389 the r
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392 Storming Germany gliders got of
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394 Storming Germany Holes in tail,
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396 Storming Germany As we were com
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398 Storming Germany The most graph
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400 Storming Germany Mac and some o
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Our Group Commander, Adriel William
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404 Storming Germany I had the chan
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406 Storming Germany west bank of t
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408 Storming Germany USAFETO, “Or
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410 Cleaning Up One of us came with
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Med-evac: a medical technician and
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414 Cleaning Up were flying eastwar
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416 Cleaning Up It would have been
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Ambulances with wounded soldiers dr
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420 Cleaning Up nally Bennett yelle
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422 Cleaning Up after we did. Major
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424 Cleaning Up purpose were cracki
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426 Cleaning Up Air Forces had done
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420 Cleaning Up June, George Doerne
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430 Cleaning Up I was Personnel Equ
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432 Cleaning Up be GI, even watches
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434 Cleaning Up havoc Allied bomber
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436 Cleaning Up important decisions
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43% Cleaning Up “Oh,” says he,
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440 Thinking Back But this was only
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442 Thinking Back that for politica
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444 Thinking Back sight of hardship
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446 Thinking Back and participated
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44% Thinking Back he finished colle
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450 Thinking Back And, in this stud
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452 Thinking Back now looked rather
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Appendix 1 81 st Troop Carrier Squa
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Appendix 2 The Roster, February 194
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Rank Name “Advanced Echelon-Will
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Rank Name “Main Echelon-Will proc
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Appendix 2: The Roster 463 Serial R
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Rank Name “Main Echelon-Will proc
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Appendix 3 Time Line: Airborne Hist
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October 6, 1944 November 1944 Novem
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472 Glossary OD oss PCT PFAB PIR PO
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474 Sources Craven, Wesley Frank, a
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476 Sources . “History of HQ, FAA
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478 Index Alsdorf, Jolly, 76, 198 A
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480 Index Bornstein, Irving, Q 71,
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402 Index coding messages, 138, 261
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484 Index electricity installed at
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486 Index glider pilots: combat dut
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KP (kitchen police), 13, 54, 153, 1
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490 Index Monte Cassino, 254 Montgo
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492 Index POL (petrol, oil, lubrica
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494 Index seasickness, 46, 47 “se
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496 Index Troop Carrier Group (cont
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498 Index Williams, Adriel (continu
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