Hello Everyone, this probably belongs in another forum, but I wanted to post it here.
I belong to a local free flight model airplane club. Not a big club, 20 or so members. A pretty good fun group of of fellows, if somewhat aged. I am at 37 the youngest member by 25 or so years. So at our last meeting we are haveing a nice chili supper when an older guy sits down next to me and we start chatting it up. I have known him for 5 years or so and we have at length discussed anything to do with our models. This stime, slightly different, he starts telling me about his good old days, seems he was not feeling very well and sort of pineing for the days of yore. He was a flight instructor in WW2 for a short time with P-51's at Wright field. I asked him what his favorite flying story is. (Being around pilots I have learned this usually a good question to get a conversation going) As he had just mentioned P-51's I had assumed the story would be about that.
Seems he had been transferred to Europe, Flying C-47's one of his jobs was towing gliders. His C/O called him into his office, In a short while his group was to be flying some Waco CG4A's over the Rhine, but 2 glider pilots from one ship came down ill with shingles, He was asked to fly a glider for the 1st time and in combat. The glider he was to fly was carrying a infantry Capt and a jeep. He said immediately after cast-off flak started fireing, his ship jumped and he felt the rudder go slack. Having never flown a CG4 before he was afraid to try and turn, so while the rest of the gliders spiraled down to the landing area he flew on straight. He landed more or less in a field across the furrows, the glider skidded nose into a tree. He had forgotten the glider carried a drag chute so he did'nt deploy it. Some soldiers and he wrestled the glider back away from the tree far enough to get the jeep out and I guess they started back to the rally point. He asked the Captain where he was supposed to go now to get picked up. Apparently the Capt sort of laughed and told him he was infantry for the next 2 weeks or so. To which he replied. I don't know nothing about foot soldiering. The Captain told him... That will change by tommorow morning!
He sort of clammed up after that and we went back to talking about propeller pitch, dihedral and under camber. Makes me sad, I wonder how any other stories he has..Others have, that we will never hear or know about.
Arty
