I would like to talk a bit about the history of the building the museum is in, and the importance of the "silent wings".
The building was constructed in 1930 as the Lubbock Municipal Airport. During WWII, the U.S. Army Air Force, leased the airport for the purpose of training pilots. There were nine glider training sites located in Texas, and Lubbock was one of the most prominent. When the school first opened in October of 1942 it was named South Plains Army Flying School, later the named was changed to South Plains Army Air Field (SPAAF). Aren't acronyms great.
The mission of SPAAF was to provide ground and advanced flight training for glider pilots that would fly the WACO CG-4A glider, which was the primary glider used by the Army during WWII. What makes the SPAAF so special... they trained nearly 80% of the glider pilots that flew combat missions.
One thing to keep in mind about these pilots, they were all volunteers. These guys risked their necks landing behind enemy lines in an unarmed glider. Because of the risks associated with going behind enemy lines the pilots were required to learn skills for survival on the ground. Their mission was to keep the troops supplied, not only with equipment and ammo, but with more personnel.
Lets take a trip back in time to the many years before WWII.
Strategists have for many many years understood that the best way to win is through getting the upper hand. Before planes were even invented, the discussion of attacking from the air was tossed around, only to be dismissed because of a lack of practical means of air transport.
A statement from Samuel Johnson in 1759: "What would be the security of the good, if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky. Against an Army sailing through the clouds, neither walls, nor mountains, nor seas, could afford any security."
How about Benjamin Franklin: "Five thousand balloons, capable of raising two men each, could not cost more than five ships of the line; and where is the prince who can afford so to cover his country with troops for its defense as that 10,000 men descending from the clouds might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?" This was Ben in 1784.
With the invention of airplanes, changes were on the horizon. Gliders were not the war invention of the U.S.
Timeline of things to come:
1922: Herman Goering outlines a proposal for a glider program that will get Germany back on top of the supremacy game.
1937: the first flight of a German assault glider, capable of carrying a pilot and nine troops.
1938: a proposal was sent to U.S. military outlining the use of gliders to transport troops, and carry bombs. Bureaucracy at work, proposal is rejected as impractical.
1940: Germany attacked Belgium fortress Eben Emael by glider, trapping 800 soldiers inside. A couple of days later the fortress surrendered.
1940: after that attack on Belgium, Winston Churchill issues an order to raise 5,000 parachute and glider troops.
1941: better late than never, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Air Corps orders Wright Field Experimental Aircraft Section to begin development of a transport glider.
1941: a training course is developed by a renowned soaring champion, and 12 officers go through the training.
1941: the Germans get delivery of their first massive glider, capable of a full infantry company of troops (a few dozen to 200 men), or 24 tons of cargo.
1941: the US military awards a glider contract to the WACO Aircraft Company. Contract is for a sample of two styles of glider; they are to be delivered to the Air Corps at Wright Field, in Ohio.
1941: US appoints a new coordinator for the Air Corps glider program. The new coordinator improved the training program, and developed a system for retrieving gliders on the ground using airborne tow planes.
1942: WACO Aircraft delivers the first glider to Wright Field in Ohio.
1943: a demonstration of a glider is conducted at Lambert Field, near St. Louis, MO. Onboard the glider were the St. Louis mayor, and several other dignitaries; unfortunately they all perished as the glider crashed to the earth. This almost killed the program as well.
Here we had a dilemma, but it was the goal of the WACO Aircraft Company to produce a quality product. Through investigation of the crash, it was determined that a failed wing lift strut-fuselage attachment fitting was the culprit for the crash.
The sub-contractor that produced the part was held responsible, and several of its management personnel resigned after the completion of the investigation.
What I found interesting, employees were recognized for a "Job Well Done".
The design that was chosen was the CG-4A Cargo Glider. Francis Arcier is credited as "Father of the WACO CG-4A Glider". Mr. Arcier and his group did not just settle with accepted design, they continued making adjustments throughout the production run. Some of the changes pertained to elements that made assembly more efficient, and the use of different materials. The team listened to the manufacturers, which also contributed to the ongoing process. To give you an idea of how much effort was put into the design of the CG-4A... 1500 sheets of drawings.
This was not a one manufacturer program, it took 16 manufacturers.
Should you be wondering why National Aircraft Corporation only produced one, cost... $1,741,809.00. Another unlikely candidate for making gliders, a furniture company that had no experienced workers in the aircraft field, and charged $379, 457 for their gliders. The last one that should not have been making gliders was Babcock. He didn't have any facilities to build a glider. He took advanced pay and rented a fairground, and made renovations to it. The circus tent he added was destroyed in a windstorm. The other issue he had was the failure of glued joints. It appeared that the humid climate was not good for the curing process.
Now that we have all these gliders being produced, what do we do with them...
I mentioned earlier that glider forces played an integral roll in several major Allied offensive. Starting with the invasion of Sicily, this one was not a total success for the glider community.
The mission was named "Operation Husky". The combined Chief of War thought that if they attacked the shaky forces of Mussolini in Sicily, Italy would withdraw from the war, meaning one less Axis (the enemy) member. Allied ground forces were going to conduct beach landings and work their way inland. That was one part of the plan, the other was an airborne attack using gliders at night. They were to go in the night before and gain control of the necessary bridges and roadways in support of the ground troops the next day.
The British had reservations about the night operation, for good reason, their pilots were not trained in night operation like the Americans. The other issue for the British... lack of gliders. The requested 500 American CG-4A gliders, the US obliged, but only sending them 346.
Some of our pilots volunteered to train the British pilots in night operations using the CG-4A glider. Several pilots even volunteered to copilot, as observers, with the British pilots during the mission.
The mission was plagued with problems from the beginning; the mission planners had no, or little experience dealing with the complexities of the new airborne concept. They developed a plan that taxed the inexperienced tow plane pilots and navigators. These planes were to tow the gliders at an altitude of 200 feet above the water. The weather created a problem for them as well, hitting unexpected turbulence, scattering the formations. It also caused many of the pilots to miss their 90 degree turns at checkpoints along the way.
The next phase was nothing but chaos, aircraft approached their assigned areas out of sequence and from different directions. What was so important about being a hair off? many of the pilots needed to take evasive actions to avoid collisions with other gliders; some of them had to evade flak from the shore batteries. Besides trying to avoid gun fire and other gliders, they could not see the drop zone checkpoints due to blowing dust, scattering troops in a wide area.
I mentioned the turbulence, well there were headwinds too. These headwinds proved disastrous for British gliders, many didn't reach shore. 72 of their glider landed in the water, killing over 600 officers and men during this initial launch, it was presumed that 300 had drowned; of that it was guessed that 19 were American pilots who volunteered to assist the Brits.
Lets talk day two of the mission. Friendly fire. Our own ground and naval gunners mistook a formation of C-47s, filled with paratroopers, for the enemy. This incident cost the lives of 318 paratroopers, and 23 planes. We learned our lesson...NOT. Three days later naval gunners shot down 11 C-47s carrying British paratroopers.
The higher ups put a victorious spin on the mission. The scattered troops functioned as independent forces, confusing the Axis troops, and the necessary bridges and roadways were controlled by the Allied forces.
This next mission almost didn't happen. The mission was called Operation Dragoon, planned as a diversionary attack prior to the invasion at Normandy. The forces that were to be used for the mission got bogged down in Italy. Italy was going to be a base that the Allies would move on to southern France.
Summer rolled around in 1944 and Operation Dragoon was revived, this time to create another front, in southern France, that would take pressure off invasion forces at Normandy, which hadn't broken out of the beachhead. The British, General Montgomery, thought we should head up to Yugoslavia, Austria, and Hungary, preventing the expansion of communism. General Eisenhower won out, we head to the south of France.
The airborne operations for this mission was conducted in multiple phases. The first phase consisted of paratroopers dropped in to prevent German counterattacking, and to clear the landing areas. Phase two, was a glider assault in conjunction with amphibious landings. Phase three, combined paratrooper and glider assault in early evening hours to reinforce the beachhead.
Codenamed Blue Bird, the first gliders were headed to the south of France, consisting of 35 British gliders, and 40 American gliders. Groups of gliders were called "serials". Because of heavy fog over the landing area, the British gliders were recalled to Italy. The reasoning was their construction of all wood frame; American gliders were metal frames. The American gliders arrived over the landing zone, and it was fogged in; they circled for several hours before the landing area was clear. The earlier forces were able to clear the Rommel Asparagus so the gliders could land. Later in the day the British gliders turned up at the landing zone.
The second mission codenamed Dove, organized in a large formation of seven serials, in a precise sequence, for an orderly landing. Think domino effect now.
There was a glider having tail issues, he reported this to his tow plane. The tow plane pilot thought he would assist the glider pilot by turning an getting him closer to the Italian shore. DOMINO #1: the tow pilot forgot he was the lead plane when he turned, the entire serial followed him. DOMINO #2: he turned back to get into formation, however, their serial was now out of sequence. DOMINO #3: the jostling that occurred to accommodate the out-of-place serial caused confusion in the formation. DOMINO #4: due to the confusion, several of the serials released at the same time over the landing zone. Most of the pilots managed to avoid other gliders. DOMINO #5: several collisions did occur on the ground while gliders were trying to land in crowded fields and vineyards. LAST DOMINO: 11 pilots were killed, 32 seriously injured.
Despite the problems, men and equipment were delivered successfully. All three combat divisions, and the main forces advanced on schedule.
Remember the "Battle of the Bulge"? it took place in Belgium. General Eisenhower thinned out the concentration of forces on the Belgium-Luxembourg-German borders, thinking that the Germans would not attack over the dense Ardennes, with its rolling hills... guess what, it is exactly what The Germans did. The name was inspired because of the 60 mile bulge in the line.
The battered Allied forces fell back, and the 101st Airborne moved in to defend the city of Bastogne. Unfortunately the town was quickly surrounded by the Germans. The German commander sent a message to the 101st commander regarding surrender, and the 101st commanders response was "nuts".
The General requested an emergency glider re-supply of supplies, emphasizing combat surgeons; the next morning they received two surgical teams by glider. That same afternoon another 10 gliders were sent in carrying personnel, gasoline, and ammunition, but this time the Germans were ready. Some of the medical personnel on the gliders were killed from flak and small arms fire. The good news was that all the glider made it into the Bastogne perimeter.
Later in the day Patton's troops broke through the German lines, but re-supply by ground was impossible. Not a problem, a 50 glider mission was planned for the following day. The first few gliders got in without issues, but the Germans woke up. With lots of gunfire filling the air, 17 tow planes and 15 gliders were downed. The mission was a success though, delivering 53 tons of supplies and personnel the first day, and additional supplies and medical resources the next day. The two day total for this mission was more than 70 tons delivered to the 101st Airborne, who successfully defended Bastogne.
They participated in many other mission that were very successful.
The glider on display was redone by the Glider Pilot Association. They scoured the world for the parts.
Now its time for you to climb in the trainer for your shot at being a glider pilot.
These glider crews participated in some of the biggest invasions during WWII, one of which was "D" Day, the invasion at Normandy. Sadly SPAAF closed its doors a month prior to the victory in Europe; the base closed down April of 1945.
Bureaucracy at its finest... SPAAF was deemed as surplus, and the site was transferred to the War Assets Administration in December of 1947. The government gave the site back to Lubbock in 1949, and again it was a municipal airport.
In 1950 the city build another municipal airport.
This museum was a great half day trip.
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