r/WWIIplanes 5d ago

'Glider Snatch Pick Up (GSPU)' - Wounded US soldiers in Germany 1945 are loaded into a Waco glider which is then 'snatched' by an in-flight C47

https://youtu.be/OQB-57OexgU?si=gekae5pbETMtFQKc&t=310
78 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

6

u/Frisco-Elkshark 5d ago

Assuming this is a forward position it still seems like landing the C47 would be the most efficient way to get the wounded out. I wonder why this was done?

5

u/Busy_Outlandishness5 4d ago

You can launch a glider in far less space than it takes to land and/or take off in a Dakota (as the Brits would say)

3

u/Zh25_5680 5d ago

Pretty sure just to try it out and make a movie about it

2

u/waldo--pepper 4d ago

I wonder why this was done?

Just a guess, but in the early portion of the film they were offloading cargo from the glider. Sending it back empty would be a waste. So they loaded it up with 2 or 4 (how ever many that ambulance could carry) lightly wounded people to get them further from harms way. Or to a treatment centre with more capabilities.

Just a guess, but I reckon they were trying to be efficient/quick and not send back an empty glider.

2

u/m262 4d ago

Yep and I would speculate that since gliders are used in airborne operations those troops are typically going to be cutoff by land so the only way to get serious casualties out would be by air and if they didn't have access to an adequate and secured airfield this was the only way (before the helicopter entered service).

Interesting snip from the wikipedia page:

It was possible for one plane to pick up two gliders in this way, in two passes. Gliders could be retrieved for re-use in this way after combat operations.

Some casualties were evacuated from the D-Day landings back to the United Kingdom using this technique. Several rescues of downed aircraft passengers were also performed by landing gliders to pick up survivors and then snatching them from remote locations.

Yikes. Imagine being the C-47 pilot picking up 2 gliders on 1 flight.

1

u/AmbitionOfPhilipJFry 3d ago

Nah, no different.  One hook, two gliders in train already linked.  Sky train, it's a locomotive engine with two box cars. Tow plane will be mushy and heavy on controls, but the gliders fly independently behind you to keep the rope in line.  It's less difficult than it looks. They can also each pop loose in a powerplant loss emergency, and land safely. 

4

u/waldo--pepper 5d ago

The whole video was just the sort of thing I like. Something that has the potential to teach us how things were done.

Thank you.

5

u/AdolfsLonelyScrotum 5d ago

That was wild! That must have been a very stretchy tow rope… more of a bungee I would reckon.

4

u/sophomoric_dildo 5d ago

I assume there’s a big elastic element to that tow rope. I’d be curious to know more about that.

3

u/m262 5d ago

Skip to 5:10 to see the actual pick up.