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USAAF Combat Control Team #1, the first CCT, prepares for the airborne invasion of Germany during Operation Varsity in March 1945, with a glider and jeep in the background
Norman Wilmeth
BIRTH 2 May 1918 Texas County, Oklahoma, USA
DEATH 7 Jul 2014 (aged 96) Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas, USA
Col. Norman C. Wilmeth of Guymon, OK, US Army (Ret) passed away July 7, 2014, after a brief illness at Texas Tech University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. He was 96 years old.
Wilmeth was born May 2, 1918 south of Guymon, Oklahoma to Joseph Carroll Wilmeth and Lora Dixon Wilmeth. He graduated from Guymon High School and attended Panhandle State University before enlisting in the US Army in 1939. He served as an artillery officer before joining the US Army Air Corps Glider Pilot program. In WWII, he served with distinction as a Glider Pilot flying into Italy, France, Holland, and numerous other missions including the Normandy invasion. He was awarded the Medaille de la France Liberee in 1982 by the French government and is a founding sponsor of the National Museum of the US Army.
William Duane "Bud" Fasking, 95, of Benton, Kentucky, passed away at 12:28 am Monday, May 15, 2017 at Baptist Health in Paducah, Kentucky, with family at his side.
graduated from Lexington High School and soon after enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. Mr. Fasking proudly served his country from 1940-1945 as a glider pilot in all three major actions of the 9th Air Force in Europe during World War II: D-Day, Market Garden and Crossing the Rhine. After leaving military service, he owned and operated a Standard Oil Station and Body Shop in Lexington.
Leon Vernon Rounds Jr.
BIRTH 26 Feb 1923 Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, USA
DEATH 10 Oct 2001 (aged 78) Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, USA
Glider Pilor 437CG, 85th Sq.
Information
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Last edited by Mark in Rochester; 07-21-2022 at 09:39 PM.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
The guts it would take to climb in that glider along with a Jeep is unfathomable to me. No engine, no runways to land on, almost guaranteed something to go wrong not to mention the load of the Jeep shifting on impact. So many ways to die in those things but yet our brave men did it because that was what was needed and did it successfully in a lot of cases. Simply amazing
Gliders were at least silent until they landed/hit the ground which could give an element of surprise. British gliders, of WW2, were built mostly of wood with the large Hamilcar glider capable of carrying a light tank.
Although needing to meet numerous training objectives, the timetable provided by
USAAF headquarters provided the instructors with only two weeks per class. Originally
four weeks in length, higher headquarters’ desire for a rapid increase in the number of
trained glider pilots resulted in the training time being compressed by a full two weeks.
Instructors did not drop any curriculum from their training, but rather condensed their
already planned lessons in the given timeframe.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
I remember that when it came time to film A Bridge Too Far, the film company had several Horsa gliders built from the blueprints of the originals. They went to the British Civil Aviation Authority to get them certified so they could fly them and the CAA flatly refused, saying that the gliders were too dangerous to all concerned to be allowed to fly in peacetime. As a result, they had to tow them up and down the landing strips and shoot pictures that suggested they flew for the film.
Bob
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' "
Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring
during Operation Varsity in March 1945, with a glider and jeep in the background
PM
Originally Posted by jond41403
