I’ve never fully understood the benefit of using gliders to land troops as opposed to a regular airplane with paratroopers. I’m thinking primarily in the context of D-Day.
If a glider needed to be towed most of the way across the channel by an aircraft, why not just use the aircraft to deliver troops?
I guess the troops would not have needed to be trained as paratroopers for one. Were they able to carry more gear than paratroopers? What other benefits did the gliders provide?
There are several reasons to use gliders
you’re able to move large groups of men and equipment in short order
gliders are quiet and perfect for stealth insertion
There just were not enough air transports for parachuting in
gliders are cheap and easy to produce and can make large quantities in just a few days
minimal training required to operate a glider compared to an aircraft so large groups of men could easily be trained to operate and fly the glider
To expand further on my previous comments
Gliders were preferred over parachuting in as when parachuting you were at the mercy of the winds and has been proven multiple times they tend to get spread out and instead of a cohesive unit you might be lucky to have 4 people with you whereas gliders could land up to 30 troops in one go providing better cohesion and protection.
Gliders can move equipment like artillery, jeeps, light armour and heavy weapons plus provide supplies like food, bedding, medical supplies and so on. During WW2 you could not push a jeep out of a cargo aircraft as it had no ramp or parachute system capable of controlling descent therefore gliders were vastly superior in this way.
Gliders had no engines or on board weaponry so you could pack up to 35 men into a glider and because they made minimal noise enemy soldiers often could not spot them until after landing making them the perfect stealth aircraft of the time.
Gliders were easy to make and cheap to build and several could be built in very short order add to that the allies literally did not have enough transport aircraft to parachute men in so this was a cheaper alternative and being no engine or complicated flight controls anybody could be taught to fly a glider in very short order. Also one aircraft could pull up to 3 gliders but the standard was 1 to 2 due to limits of what the aircraft could tow. C47s could tow one glider B24s and Halifax bombers could tow 2.
Downsides to gliders
They were flimsy and a bad landing could take out the entire group of soldiers on board
They often were covered in a canvas skin and afforded zero protection from incoming bullets, shells or flak
Many glider pilots recieved minimal training as all they had to do was take off, fly basic maneuvers behind the aircraft and land and gliders were considered single use so use once and done. With that being said there were many accidents as glider pilots did not receive the same training as actual pilots so the training was all over the board. The most dangerous part of flying a glider was the takeoff and landing which still holds true today.
That all makes sense. Thanks for the detailed explanation! 