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18 Starting Up pilot made a very steep climb; but he began to stall out. We think that many of the passengers in that plane may have slid to the rear, possibly because they were sitting without their seat belts on. This would have thrown the plane further out of balance. We saw it make an almost full nose-up stall, then slide backward and fall off on the right wing side at about 1,200 to 1,500 feet. As it started to dive the pilot had full emergency power on trying to pull it out; but he never could get the nose up and it went almost straight down into a swamp near us. The plane’s impact was so violent that we found the melted engines maybe twenty-five feet down through the mulch and the earth under that swamp. (Carlisle Jordan, Squadron <strong>Air</strong>plane Inspector) Delma Montgomery, our glider mechanic chief, and George Britt, another mechanic, struggled for hours trying to help save the victims of this crash. They had to push their way through burning wreckage for some of the bodies. For this they were given the Soldier’s Medal for bravery. By late July in 1943, and even more during the fall when we were at Laur- inburg-Maxton, we seemed to have planes heading for all parts of the country; Col. Brack took advantage of these flights to get many of us last-minute leaves before shipping out. Anyone in the Squadron who had a few days of leave com- ing could find out in the Operations <strong>Office</strong> if there was a plane scheduled to fly near his home and ask to be given a ride as a passenger. When we were at Alliance, Col. Brack favored men living in the Middle West or West; when we got to Laurinburg-Maxton men from the more eastern states got their turn. I remember getting a RON to Philadelphia, within easy train distance from my home in New Jersey, allowing me to see my wife and family for a few precious hours just one month before I flew to England. A pilot, after heldemonstrated his ability to fly a C-47, still had to come to grips with the function for which our outfit was created: delivering paratroopers and glider troopers to where they were needed. Now he had to move beyond individual pilot training and master the world of “formation flying,” a term that covers a whole variety of complex, delicate, and dangerous skills. In fact, one could say, no formations, no troop carrier. Placing paratroopers or gliders on their drop or landing zones one planeload at a time would make no sense. Just after landing, airborne troops were vulnerable enough without depriving them of whatever support they could get not only from additional platoons but also from artillery and engineering units. Since airborne doctrine called for paratroopers to be able to hold out on their own for two or three days or even more until the line infantry could break through to them, they had to be landed in as large numbers as possible, and as compactly and as quickly as possible. The same applied to glider missions. Formation maneuvers called for the most rigid, most disciplined
Our first "glider-guiders.'' Front, left to right: DiPietro, Ryman, Hoshal, Chevalier, Robinson, Brewer, Miller; rear: Vancil, Steffens, Sindledecker, Cline, Feam, Ward, McCann. A picture-perfect glider formation: echelon to the left of four tugs and gliders. (Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)
Page 1 and 2: ATroop Carrier Squadron's War From
Page 3: "Five (5) minutes out from the DZ [
Page 7 and 8: Thirty-eight veterans of troop carr
Page 9 and 10: Contents Preface / vii Maps 1 xiv 1
Page 11 and 12: Party of the first part On the glid
Page 13 and 14: Hell on the ground Assessing VARSIT
Page 15: A Troop Carrier Squadron's War From
Page 18 and 19: 2 Starting Up Navy or for cushy adm
Page 20 and 21: 4 Starting Up Command); Wing (ours
Page 22 and 23: 6 Starting Up worked in a gas stati
Page 24 and 25: 8 Starting Up istrative action, Squ
Page 26 and 27: 10 Starting Up along, a couple of o
Page 28 and 29: 12 Starting Up with Ginger Rogers a
Page 30 and 31: 74 Starting Up afflicted that when
Page 32 and 33: 16 Starting Up Cadet flight schools
Page 36 and 37: 20 Starting Up flying possible. Whe
Page 38 and 39: 22 Starting Up The 436th was the fi
Page 40 and 41: 24 Starting Up There were countless
Page 42 and 43: 26 Getting Blooded prison. Eight gl
Page 44 and 45: 28 Getting Blooded terattack but al
Page 46 and 47: 30 Getting Blooded jumps that many
Page 48 and 49: 32 Getting Blooded Troop carrier‘
Page 50 and 51: 34 Getting Blooded happened off the
Page 53 and 54: Airborne Operations Before Our Time
Page 59 and 60: 3. Traveling On the Road to Our War
Page 61 and 62: Making friends: Ed Smith (communica
Page 63 and 64: On the Road to Our War 47 The Briti
Page 65: On the Road to Our War 49 out of ga
Page 68 and 69: 52 Traveling Crew chiefs would repo
Page 70 and 71: 54 Traveling We used PX lighter flu
Page 72 and 73: 56 Traveling rather than jostling f
Page 74 and 75: 4. Getting With It Training and Tou
Page 76 and 77: Stand in the door! Paratroopers pra
Page 78 and 79: 62 Getting With It We had a whole b
Page 81 and 82: Training and Tourism in the ETO 65
Page 83 and 84: Training and Tourism in the ETO 67
Page 85 and 86:
Training and Tourism in the ETO 69
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
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
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I1 6 Evaluating chute medics. These
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11 8 Evaluating but few of them kne
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120 Evaluating attack. A small part
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122 Evaluating being thrown down to
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124 Evaluating 10. 1 have checked t
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126 Flying lots could not help but
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128 Flying Our liaison officer with
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130 Flying a bevy of small single-e
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132 Flying the 82nd Commander told
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134 Flying Another source of frayed
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136 Flying the principles of naviga
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138 Flying chief, with my back agai
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140 Flying out of the radios than w
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142 Flying couldn’t believe I was
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144 Flying flying personnel handled
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146 Gliding You can find our Americ
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148 Gliding us over the landing zon
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150 Gliding grate. Some of them wer
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152 Gliding and make dead stick lan
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154 Gliding base, target practice,
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156 Gliding visions, since they fou
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158 Gliding loads came in too fast
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160 Gliding The Germans were sendin
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162 Gliding when referring to C-47
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164 Gliding paper and lit it. Talk
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166 Gliding 3. Col. Samuel T. Moore
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168 Engineering pulleys had been bl
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170 Engineering The idea was that w
Page 188 and 189:
172 Engineering Parachute riggers,
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174 Engineering from higher echelon
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, 176 Engineering rons would be rea
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178 Engineering Room whenever they
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180 Engineering even had to haul ou
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182 Engineering Morale on the line
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104 Engineering seven. In times lik
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How to Run Combat Operutions 187 wa
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How to Run Combat Operations 189 ha
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How to Run Combat Operations 191 gu
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How to Run Combat Operations 193 pe
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How to Run Combat Operations 195 Wa
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How to Run Combat Operations 197 wa
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How to Run Combat Operations 199 Bo
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Communications characters. Front, l
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How to Run Combat Operations 203 se
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How to Run Combat Operations 205 Th
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How to Run Combat Operations 207 Ev
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How to Run Combat Operations 209 2.
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How to Run a Squadron 21 1 Long bef
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The Orderly Room bunch at TARFU Bou
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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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Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 254 and 255:
230 Breaking Out the lack of gas. S
Page 256 and 257:
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
Page 264 and 265:
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
Page 277 and 278:
The Assault on Southern France 261
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One of the gliders towed by the 81s
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Page 283 and 284:
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
Page 300 and 301:
284 MARKET-GARDENING it as “a par
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286 MARKET-GARDENING armor. Jumping
Page 304 and 305:
288 MARKET-GARDENING over us to let
Page 306 and 307:
290 MARKET-GARDENING I was seated o
Page 308 and 309:
292 MARKET-GARDENING If any of us n
Page 310 and 311:
294 MARKET-GARDENING pushed off the
Page 312 and 313:
296 MARKET-GARDENING 17. As it happ
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298 Falling Short deteriorating wea
Page 316 and 317:
300 Falling Short right there; and
Page 318 and 319:
302 Falling Short of the airborne G
Page 320 and 321:
304 Falling Short A minute or two a
Page 322 and 323:
306 Falling Short to clouds and fog
Page 324 and 325:
308 Falling Short MARKET-GARDEN fal
Page 326 and 327:
31 0 Falling Short began, finally,
Page 328 and 329:
312 Falling Shorl A few miles up th
Page 330 and 331:
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
Page 340 and 341:
324 Reassessing empty (more than 8,
Page 342 and 343:
326 Reassessing This happened in la
Page 344 and 345:
328 Reassessing right on through th
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m rr 0
Page 348 and 349:
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
Page 426 and 427:
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
Page 496 and 497:
480 Index Bornstein, Irving, Q 71,
Page 498 and 499:
402 Index coding messages, 138, 261
Page 500 and 501:
484 Index electricity installed at
Page 502 and 503:
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
Page 512 and 513:
496 Index Troop Carrier Group (cont
Page 514:
498 Index Williams, Adriel (continu
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