Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

CHAPTER THREE
Hybrid Aircraft and
Gliders
During World War II, Germany made extensive use of unpowered aircraft in the
transport role, and though they met with diminishing success, they proved a useful
addition to the Reich's logistical fleet. In a parallel development, technology
developed for glider bombs was applied to the guidance of unmanned powered
aircraft too, the flight to the vicinity of the target being under the control of the pilot
of a single-engined fighter mounted piggyback on the explosives-packed bomber.
Even after the new German Air Force was established,
the unpowered aircraft still occupied an
important place in its order of battle, perhaps because
almost all Luftwaffe pilots recruited before Germany
openly re-armed had learned to fly in gliders. As we
have seen, many important new developments in aviation
sprang from the Deutsches Forschungsinstitut
für Segelflug (DFS).
Above: The DFS 230 carried Luftwaffe paratroops into
action against the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael.
Left: The 'Mistel' was a fighter mated with an unmanned
bomber, the nose of which was an explosive charge.
THE DFS 230
Gliders were eventually to be developed in Germany
in all shapes and sizes and for a variety of roles. We
have seen them as both bombers and fighters, but they
were actually more effective, at least in combat terms,
as troop carriers and transports. The first to see action
was the diminutive DFS 230, a conventional glider
with straight, high aspect ratio wings, developed from
a prototype built by Rhön-Rossitten-Gesellschaft in
1932, which could carry eight combat-equipped soldiers.
In a very real sense, the DFS 230 was a secret
weapon par excellence, for in its combat debut, when
Luftwaffe paratroopers used it to assault and capture
the huge Belgian fortress at Eben-Emael on 10 May
45