TANK-CARRYING GLIDER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25560, 13 June 1944, Page 5

TANK-CARRYING GLIDER

AN ALLIED SECRET WEAPON RUGBY, June 11. Much of the success of the fighting inland of the Normandy landing beaches has been due to the Use of Bn tain’s most cherished secret weapdn huge motorless aircraft which the Germans believed to be troop carriers. A tremendous punch has been given to the ground operations by the use of the Hamilcars, which, towed by R.A.I heavy bombers, carry a fast light tanK or other heavy equipment. The tank carries a gun, and, started up by its crew while still airborne, goes into action as soon as the glider touches down. At the moment of touching down, the nose of the glider swings back, and the fuselage sinks to the ground to allow the lank to run out free. , The Hamilcar’s wmg span Is greater than the Lancaster’s (102 ft). It has such manoeuvrability that it can be landed in little more than a small meadow. By daylight and dark it can be put down with almost mathematical certainty from a release point several miles away. , , , . One of the first to be landed In France, within two minutes of touching down, silenced a gunpost that had been causing heavy casualties among the ground forces. When another arrived the ground troops reported a sniper in a nearby tower. The tank therefore trundled across and blew the top off the tower.