Warbird Information Exchange

Please enlighten me with this evolution and the C-47's equiptment.
I've never seen this before. This was the first snatch n grab in liberated France!!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Jack;
Great pic!
I've seen that proceedure in many photographs and film. They performed it quite often, though I don't have specifics.
Used many times to retrive undamaged gliders without having to take the time to disassemble them.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

great photo, Jack

found the original caption to your photo:



some interesting info & photos here:

http://www.pointvista.com/WW2GliderPilo ... rieval.htm


the same 'contraption' is seen on this C-47 towboat



Martin

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Flying is easy: just learn how to throw yourself at the ground and miss

I've always wondered how they didn't just rip the cable right off the glider from the force of going from a dead stop to airborne in a few seconds.

This was discussed a bit here...

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... glider+fly

Memory is a bit fuzzy, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that they tried a similar sort of thing for collecting agents in occupied territory. Live pick ups were made and I remember seeing pictures. What a ride that would be

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

Fulton system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_sur ... ery_system

Adding a dissonant note, he said....

"It's prolly a C-53....they were rigged for glider towing"
http://www.xs4all.nl/~fbonne/warbirds/w ... c47verstab

And the ID of that plane is:

http://www.ww2gp.org/CG4A.htm

(also a note of the a/c rigging for towing)



But, then again, what the heck do I know.....

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Bob

The Wiki article is incorrectly worded in reference to the first human pick-up as being in 1958.
It may have been the first for Fulton's system, but not the first human aerial pick-up.

From what I know of early aerial retrieval devices...Fulton saw a demonstration of All American's
pick-up device in post-war London and felt he could improve on it. Interesting that the Wiki article states that
Fulton was having trouble with breakage of the pick-up line until he "discovered" a braided Nylon line
ended his troubles. Dupont solved their same problem in 1943 with...a Nylon snatch line.

The first human pick-up was attempted and performed successfully in September 1943.

Edited..almost mixed an apple with and orange.

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

The line which payed out from the drum in the tow aircraft was steel. The "snatch line" draped across
the poles was Nylon and stretched somewhat like a bungee cord. The design of the winch played a large
part in gradually transferring the load of the static target to the towbird and reeling them in.

If you go back to the thread Wheels Up linked to about the Dreamflight 2009 project Gliderman1 and I (starting page 3)
start to get into the "bits and pieces" of the apparatus. He and I disagree on a few points..but it was a pretty fascinating
discussion for me...there ain't a lot of material on this subject on the web or in books, for that matter.

We've had unseasonably good weather and my workload has been rather brutal..but crappy weather is due
soon, so maybe as soon as this weekend we can resume that thread. The first time in a long time that I've
been "happy" about crap weather!!! I have a few corrections and misunderstandings tied to wording I'd like
to clarify and discuss the subject further with Charles.

Because of the fallout of interest in Dreamflight, I finally found a copy online of All American's, "Air Pick-up Handbook"...
Found and started to read a copy of the CG-4A Repair Manual and a few other goodies. No telling what else will turnup
as this project gathers momentum.

The apparatus has come a long way from rural Australians posting their mail into a "bucket or bag"
tied to an aircraft flying in a banking cone overhead while the farmer posted!!!(IIRC)

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Yeah, wikipedia tends to be inaccurate. I just wanted to put that link in for the earlier poster who wasn't familiar with the Fulton System. I remember seeing a website a while back that had tons of info on the Fulton system. Unfortunately i can't remember it.

The Wiki "can" be inaccurate, but "tends"... is a bit strong by half. Like TIGHAR..there is stuff worth
having and stuff you toss off!

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

doppelganger..

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

BUMP.
You might enjoy this one also Mike!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Glider Snatch/Pickup. My WWII outfit, the 316th TCG, only did the snatch as training. We never really used this technique under combat circumstances.

But: I suggest you read the book “Into the Valley, The Untold Story of USAAF Troop Carrier in World War II: by Col. Charles H. Young. Young was the CO of the 439th TCG.

On pages 467-469 is the story “Remagen Glider Snatch of Medical Evacuees.”

“Utilized ‘live’ at Remagen [Germany] for the first time in the ETO, the evacuation of ‘litter cases’ by glider was to be used in the invasion area of VARSITY if the link-up between airborne and ground forces was delayed.” This first evacuation flight took place on March 22, 1945.

These three pages not only contain the description of the technique of the snatch but also has illustrations of the mechanics that were necessary to install in the C-47 for the snatch technique. Also included on page 468 is a “Nurse’s Perspective (on the Second Remagen Pick-up).”

There is much more to read than what I can send. The material was written by Gerald C. “Bud” Berry. I believe he also was with the 439th.

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Mike Ingrisano
Valor Without Arms
mingnan@juno.com