[Lone Sentry: WW2 Enemy Airborne Forces]
  ©2006
[Lone Sentry: Photos, Articles, and Research on the European Theater in World War II]
Home Page | Site Map | What's New | Contact: info@lonesentry.com

Enemy Air-Borne Forces, Military Intelligence Service, Special Series No. 7, December 2, 1942
[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the wartime U.S. War Department publication. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

27. TUG AND GLIDER PERFORMANCES

The tabulation in figure 5 is consolidated from all available sources. The calculations apply to still-air conditions, and vary by any change in those conditions, no allowance being made for evasive action, navigation errors, headwinds, etc. A reduction of radius of action or range required would, for instance, permit a corresponding increase of load to be taken by the towing plane.

The gliding distance for the DFS-230 glider has been calculated on the ratio of 1 to 16 (or even more): that is, for every foot of height at launching, the glider can theoretically cover 16 feet measured horizontally. In the attack on Crete it is reported that gliders were released at an altitude of 5,000 feet. This altitude, under normal conditions and with the loaded DFS-230 glider, would permit a gliding range of about 8 to 10 miles. However, all estimates as to gliding ranges are very uncertain, and subject to revision.

   Take-off 
 distance 
 (ft) 
 Initial
 climb (ft 
 per min) 
 Total 
 range1 
 Mean speed with 
 glider (in mph) 
 and altitude 
 (in ft) 
Ju-52—fuel, 530 gals plus 1-ton payload. 1 Glider DFS-230----- ----- 850     100/5,000
Ju-52—fuel, 530 gals:    
       1 Glider DFS-2301,110 ----- 780     110/5,000
       3 Gliders DFS-2301,410 750 600     100/5,000
Ju-52—fuel, 1,060 gals:    
       1 Glider DFS-2301,320 950 1,600     110/5,000
       3 Gliders DFS-2301,710 660 1,270     110/5,000
2 Ju-52—fuel, 1,060 gals each. 1 Glider Merseburg2,700 350 1,000     110/
3 Ju-52—fuel, 1,060 gals each. 1 Glider Go-2422,610 340 990     110/5,000
1 Ju-52—fuel, 530 gals. 1 Glider Go-2422,160 380 468     110/5,000
Me-109—fuel, 154 gals. 1 Glider DFS-2302,760 900 500     140/10,000
Me-110—fuel, 280 gals. 1 Glider DFS-2302,310 980 520     140/10,000
Me-110—fuel (auxiliary tanks), 530 gals. 1 Glider----- ----- 760     210/
1 Total range, the plane towing the glider all the way and not returning to base. A rough formula for
  calculating the plane's radius of action is the following: Range/2 x .80=Radius of action.

Figure 5. Table of tug and glider performances (estimated)
 

[Back to Table of Contents, WWII Enemy Airborne Forces] Back to Table of Contents

Advertisement