Ford making gliders during the war

Wow! It is truly amazing how the industrial knowhow of Ford and all the other leading manufacturers was able to be converted to everything needed to win WW II.
 
I've got a wing rib from one of the gliders. Got it from A Ford badge collector in Sun City, Az. who got it from a fellow in the U.P. where Henry had his operations. The weird stuff we collect!
 
If you’ve never read the book I encourage you to find a used copy, I bought on a few years back for a couple of bucks.
 

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Unfortunately, for "some", these bring back some bad memories. A good friend from church (RIP) was in the D-Day invasion and was in one of these going in, the pilots flew around for more than 2 hours, basically lost, and finally got frustrated and released his glider where the "thought" they were supposed to be. He landed and was immediately captured by a German regiment and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.
 
Here is another book written by a member of the Early Ford V-8 Club.
Ford in the Service of America, by Timothy O'Callaghan

I believe it still is available from the Early Ford V-8 Foundation.
 
At the museum in Iron Mountain, there is a display that includes one of the gliders produced locally. I still marvel at the incredibly cramped and overloaded design and the optimistically hopeful thinking they represent. The existence of any survivors for any landing is remarkable- and heroic.
 
Ray in La Mesa said:
I've got a wing rib from one of the gliders. Got it from A Ford badge collector in Sun City, Az. who got it from a fellow in the U.P. where Henry had his operations. The weird stuff we collect!
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The pieces assembled were incredibly intricate. Can you share a picture?
 
Like this post! My late dad was a WACO glider pilot. He never spoke about it much. After his passing, my late mother came to us with a cassette tape he put together on Operation Varsity. Piloted a glider out of France into Germany. My understanding that one out of five glider pilots would not survive. So I feel special to be here and special that he was around to tell me to "replace those mechanical brakes on your 1935 or you'll bust your A$$"... :)
 
ScubaChief60 said:
Like this post! My late dad was a WACO glider pilot. He never spoke about it much. After his passing, my late mother came to us with a cassette tape he put together on Operation Varsity. Piloted a glider out of France into Germany. My understanding that one out of five glider pilots would not survive. So I feel special to be here and special that he was around to tell me to "replace those mechanical brakes on your 1935 or you'll bust your A$$"... :)
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Like your post, too! Made me chuckle! :p:p I heard the same thing from my Dad about mechanical brakes. We ran them... always stopped! Some times... later than sooner! lol :)
 
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