There was CG4 glider training at Atterbury Army Air Field in WW II.
As an auxiliary of Bowman Field, Atterbury Army Air Base assisted the Troop Carrier Command in training pilots. Glider Pilot training was conducted at the Atterbury Army Airfield during 1944 and 1945. In March of 1944 liaison type airplanes arrived at Atterbury Army Airfield from Bowman Field, Kentucky for the glider pilot training program. The small planes with their motors shut off give the filers practice identical to landing a glider. In June 1944 several gliders arrived at the air field and were the first reported at the field. Also, on June 19, 1944 a glider landed in a cow pasture east of the airfield on the Marr farm. The glider was snatched from the field the next day by a C-47 in an air-ground "close line snatch." An experienced C-47 pilot and glider pilot from Stout Field at Indianapolis were called upon to make the pick-up. A jeep pulled the glider to the corner of the field and a tow line was laid out in front of the glider and stretched across two vertical poles about 12 feet high. It took four tries for the C-47 pilot to pick up the glider. It became a common site around the area for gliders to make unscheduled stops in farm fields. Full scale glider operations got under way on March 3, 1945. Atterbury Army Air Field commander, Major Robert E. McDonald announced that it would be the center for all glider operations in connection with the training of Troop Carrier Command pilots at George Field. George Field was northwest of Vincennes, Indiana in Illinois. Atterbury Army Air Field was also used for practice take off and landing by C-47 and C-46 transports. Glider training continued after V-J Day during 1945. On February 7, 1946, high winds sent eight old gliders on their last flight. The gliders were all retired to the salvage section of the field when caught by the wind. The wind gusts reached 50 miles an hour at times as recorded at the field. The normal take off speed of a glider is 40 miles an hour and when hit by the gusts the began flying. This information was supplied by Bruce Dalton of Columbus a WWII Glider Pilot from articles researched in past editions of the Columbus newspaper. Bruce was active with the museum staff had vast knowledge of CG4A Gliders for the museum glider project. Bruce passed away in 2007. Bruce Dalton, 95er, museum volunteer and WWII Glider Pilot. The big smile is because he was working on a CG4A Glider nose section for display at the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum. A young Bruce Dalton standing in front of his CG4A Glider in England during W.W.II. Bruce Dalton and the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum CG4A Glider Nose Project and Scale Glider featured in the Hoosier Times/Herald Times Newspaper.
On display at the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum are CG-4A Glider parts donated by Glen Russo of Clifton New Jersey. Thanks to Glen the museum has glider bench seats, escape hatch, jump seat and seat backs. These items were found in the attic of a farm house in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. In the photograph above you can see how the bench seats and seat backs were used in the glider.
L-4 Liaison Aircraft used for glider pilot training at Atterbury Army Air Force Base. The engine was shut down for gliding training. It was also used for flight time for the glider pilots and sometimes it was used as an aerial taxi cab flown between Bowman Field, Louisville Kentucky and Atterbury Army Air Field. The TG-3A is a two-place, dual control glider manufactured by the Schweizer Aircraft Company for the Army Air Force during WWII. Students received about six hours dual instruction in the TG-3A before being trained in the CG-4A cargo glider. There is virtually no pictorial history of the glider activity at the Atterbury Army Air Field and we need your help finding photographs, memorabilia and personal stories about this great time in history. Contact the museum if you can help. The museum has one of the very few TG2A WWII Training Gliders in existence. This photo was taken at the Columbus Airport. The glider is stored off site and displayed during special events. The museum is trying to raise funds for an expansion project so this glider may be on display permanently.
There is a historical marker dedicated to the WWII Glider Pilots. The marker is located on Bakalar Green between the control tower and rotating beacon. Many W.W.II Glider Pilots and their families were on hand for the dedication of the historical marker.
This group of photos was donated to the museum along with uniforms, ribbons, correspondence and other artifacts by Melinda Filer Easley and Pamela Thomas, daughters of World War II Glider Pilot David E. Filer. These great photos show the daily life of a WWII glider pilot, the uniforms, equipment, locations and most importantly, the people. Many of the snapshots were taken during Glider Training. Museum Volunteer and former WWII Glider Pilot, Bruce Dalton can be seen in some of these photos along with David Filer. Without the former service members or their families donating these one of a kind historical photographs, equipment, documents and artifacts to our museum, you would not be able to view them, and they would be lost to history.From left to right show the interior of the Glider Pilots barracks at a training site, and various photos of gliders during training. Many of the photos had "Place Studios division of The Goodeve Company Lubbock Texas" stamped on the back. This sequence of photos show the view from the cockpit of a CG4A glider and the C-47 towing the glider. The middle photo shows a glider landing, note the tail still airborne. The photo was taken from the cockpit of another glider that just landed. The last two photos show a good side view of a glider and the uniform of the day for the Glider Pilot.
The photo on the left picture show David Filer, the shortest in the photo facing the camera and Bruce Dalton on the right side of the photo with his back turned to the camera. In the second photo David and Bruce are in the center of the photo. The center photo an L-4 aircraft can be seen and Bruce Dalton is 6th from the left, back row just under the wing tip. Tent City with a soldier shaving shows some of the Glider Pilots living conditions. A CG-4A being worked on in the photo on the right.
This group shows David Filer in England, a censor stamp that appeared on back of some of the photos, the pilots lounge in England where they were censoring mail and a street scene in England.
The museum is always looking for W.W.II glider artifacts, particularly from the former Atterbury Army Air Field. Contact the museum if you have anything you wish to donate associated with the W.W.II Glider Pilots.
Jim :-)
James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)