The only glider used by US forces in combat, the CG-4A (known to the British as the “Hadrian” and the Americans as the “Haig” or simply “WACO”) was of fairly conventional design, using wood and metal tubing for the frame and covered in fabric. Some 12,400 were built.
Aside from a baker’s dozen of troops, the CG-4A could also carry a jeep, a 75mm howitzer, or over two tons of cargo (in one instance, the British towed a CG-4A loaded with medicine for the USSR all the way from Montreal to England). Maximum listed take-off weight was 4.5 tons. The nose was hinged and folded upwards (along with the seats for the two crew), to allow easy loading and unloading. An unusual safety feature was installed that, should the vehicles or cargo shift forward on landing, a cable on a pulley system automatically raised the nose section to allow the contents to exit the plane. Originally, the glider was designed so that the wheels would be jettisoned after take-off and landing would be made on skids. However, it was found that the aircraft landed better on wheels, so they made permanent items.
The GC-4A had a crew of two, pilot and co-pilot. After landing, they would form part of the squad carried by the glider.
Subassemblies: Heavy FB chassis +4, Heavy FB Wings with
STOL option +6, one skid +1, three fixed wheels +1.
Powertrain: None.
Occupancy: 2 CS, 13 PS Cargo: 4.5
Body.
Armor
Body/Wings: 2/2C
Wheels/Skid: 2/3
Equipment
Body: Medium radio receiver and transmitter, navigation instruments.
Statistics
| Size: 48'x84'x13' | Payload: 1.7 tons | Lwt: 3.57 tons |
| Volume: 640 | Maint.: 52 hours | Price: $14,600 |
HT: 12.
HPs: 263 Body, 300 each Wing, 75 Skid, 25 each Wheel.
| aSpeed: * | aAccel: * | aDecel: 30 | aMR: 7.5 | aSR: 2 | Stall: 50 |
Design Notes
The historical stall speed has been used (design stall speed was 32
mph; some sources list a stall speed as low as 44 mph), as well as the
actual wing area (900 square feet). Body and wing HP, cost and weight were
halved. Even so, unloaded weight had to be reduced by 10% to match the
historical unloaded weight.
Historical maximum towing speed was 126 mph; maximum gliding speed was 150 mph.
Historically, the average price was $25,000, but ranged from $15k-$52k.
Design aMR was a rather high 15; this (and the associated aDecel) were halved to more reasonable numbers.
Variants
The PG version, of which only a few were built, fitted two small piston
engines to allow self-powered flight.
| aSpeed: 170 | aAccel: 5 | aDecel: 17 | aMR: 4.5 | aSR: 2 | Stall: 45 |
Design Notes
The historical speed has been used (design speed was 173 mph), as well
as the actual wing area (275 square feet). Wing HP, cost and weight were
halved; design weight still had to be reduced by 9%.
The passenger seats are cramped, using 4 rather than 5 VSP each.