Gliding on the wings of time

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Wesley Wright
  • 442nd FW/PA
WHITEMAN AFB, Mo. --  Over the last several years, a rotating group of volunteers have come to Whiteman Air Force Base to restore a World War II era glider eventually set to go on display here.

The CG-4A glider was designed by the Waco Aircraft Company and manufactured by a multitude of unlikely manufacturers including Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch and the Crosby Refrigerator Company. Many were built by Commonwealth Corporation in Kansas City.

The aircraft that towed the gliders were, for the most part, C-47s, although C-46s were later used. In excess of 14,000, gliders were produced during WWII although relatively few survive intact to the present day due to time, destruction in crash-landings and the fact that many of them were not recovered from battlefields despite methods and tools. Many commanders at the time considered them expendable assets.

It is not by happenstance the volunteers began restoration on a glider, for Whiteman Air Force Base began as Sedalia Glider Base (later Sedalia Army Air Base) in 1942. The 442nd Troop Carrier Group (today the 442nd Fighter Wing) was activated in Sedalia one year later. Glider pilots and paratroopers of 442nd TCG trained here on the CG-4A before going to Europe, where the glider delivered reinforcements, helped extend supply lines and air-evacuated wounded troops.

Mel Bockelman, a retired chief master sergeant, said CG-4As were used to great effect at the Normandy Beach landing. Moving forward 10 feet for every foot descended, at 120 mph, straight into Nazi flak, Bockelman said one pilot yelled, "Say your prayers men - we're coming in on a wing and a prayer."

Frank McKinley, a retired Air Force first sergeant, is one of the volunteers working to restore the glider. He said the volunteers, who have invested their own time and money, are committed to keeping this bit of history alive for future generations. To this end, the group plans to rebuild an additional glider cockpit to donate to the Airman Leadership School here.

"It's a labor of love," he said. "Something you have to be dedicated and want to do, no matter how long it takes."

It is not a small task, indeed. While CG-4As were initially envisioned as troop transports, circumstances eventually led the military to use gliders for cargo-transport and even air-evacuation missions. In addition to a pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit, the glider has enough cargo-space for 13 troops and gear, a jeep or a 75mm Howitzer.

Despite being decades behind today's modern aircraft, CG-4As are far from simple, having approximately 70,000 parts, McKinley said.

Retired Army Paratrooper Walter Mills said it is nearly impossible to find original parts for the glider.

"The 442nd Fighter Wing made some parts for us, some we made ourselves and sometimes people also donate them."

McKinley said because of that generation of pilots and maintainers that led to authentic parts surviving to the present day.

"The greatest generation went through the depression; they did not waste much," he said. "Now they have retired or passed on and their kids to great-grandkids are finding these parts, which sometimes make their way to us."

Although the glider will not be restored to flying condition, those working on it say they are committed to being as accurate as possible in restoring the glider.

"We could cut corners, nobody looking at the plane would know," said Gary White, one of the volunteers "but we would."

McKinley said some nights they do not even physically work, they just sit down over drawings and plans that have been recovered and restored by volunteers to try and figure out how all the components of the glider fit together.

"It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle," said volunteer Michael Stauffer, a retired flight nurse and missile technician.

Stauffer credits his seventh grade shop teacher for setting him on a path that would eventually lead him to helping with the woodwork on the glider.

"He got me started and it's been sawdust and splinters ever since," Stauffer said.
Stauffer said he was hesitant when he started on the project, deferring on larger more complex parts of the project, but his fascination with woodworking and wooden airplanes eventually won out.

Stauffer has been working the last few months on affixing a wooden door frame to the glider. He said he puzzled-out the anchor points for the door frame using restored plans, but said he is still unsure how some of the parts mesh together.

"The frame has to fit, but it also has to be set back just so much so the ribbing that runs the entire length of the plane can hold the fabric away from the airframe," Stauffer said.

"There are many factors you have to account for just to install one piece."

McKinley said much of the group's work is trial and error.

"We tape things up, put them in place and see how the measurements fit together," McKinley said. "If it does not fit, we take it down and try something else."

McKinley said while he does not expect to see the end of this project for several more years, he and the group still forge ahead.

"If we managed to finish this, we would just move on to something else," he said. "We are just a bunch of retirees who cannot quit giving back to the military."

Those who interested in helping with the reconstruction of this piece of 442nd history can contact Frank McKinley at (660) 441-5834 or by email at mckinleys@charter.net. Members may also see the progress on the glider on Tuesday evenings at building 124.