Warbird Information Exchange

Aviation buff's glider work nears end

World War II craft segment headed back to Michigan

By DJ Slater
Wausau Daily Herald

A World War II glider segment that has been sitting in Wausau resident Syd Cohen's hangar at the Wausau Downtown Airport for nearly four years is headed back to Iron Mountain, Mich., on Nov. 10.

Cohen initially planned to send his segment, the front fuselage, to the Menominee Range Historical Foundation in Iron Mountain sometime in 2010. Cohen's piece is the only one in Wausau; the other segments -- the wings, tail and rear fuselage -- were being built or restored in Iron Mountain by volunteers.

Those volunteers, however, finished building the wings and tail segments and restored the rear fuselage before Cohen could complete his work. Now, the volunteers want to take Cohen's work off his hands and finish it in Iron Mountain.

"In some ways I'm glad, and in some ways I'm disappointed I don't get to complete it," Cohen said. "I definitely have mixed feelings on it."

Gliders are engine-less airplanes the United States used during the war to deliver men, jeeps, ammunition and other supplies behind enemy lines. Larger planes would tow the gliders near battle lines and release them. Gliders could soar about 25 miles before gravity brought them back to Earth, Cohen said.

Back in early 2005, Jack Chmiel of Rhinelander, an airplane mechanic and friend of Cohen, saw the glider segment sitting in the parking lot at the Menominee Range Historical Foundation in Iron Mountain.

The museum's staff told him they needed someone to restore the segment -- the front section of a glider known as the Waco CG-4A "Hadrian" -- and Cohen, 66, and his Experimental Aircraft Association friends decided to bring it to Wausau.

About 13,400 gliders were built during the war. The one that Cohen has, however, never saw combat. It was manufactured at the end of the war, so it was auctioned off to the public, he said. His glider was first used as a trailer and later as a deer-hunting shack before being donated to the foundation.

Cohen and his friends have put in about 5,500 hours on the project, reconstructing the steel-and-aluminum frame, rebuilding some wooden parts, installing pulleys for control cables and replacing the wood flooring, among many other tasks, he said.

"I think he did a tremendous job," said Lester Schwarm, 87, of Wausau, who helped build the wood floor for the glider.

The remaining enhancements include installing the control cables, wiring and landing gear as well as adding the fabric covering to the front fuselage, Cohen said.

Once that's finished, the glider segments will be reassembled and put on display at the foundation's museum in Iron Mountain.

"I'm proud to have been a part of this project," Cohen said. "It's a forgotten part of history."

Additional Facts
How to see it
The glider will be at the Wausau Downtown Airport until Nov. 10. Call Syd Cohen at 573-7063 to schedule an appointment to see it.

Right on Holedigger!

The CG-4A at 7,500 gross had a 15 to 1 glide ratio. If you cut off at 8,800 feet (above ground level) and let it "glide" you should be flat on the ground at the end of the glide. There were 13,903 CG-4As built. If one counts the XCG-3, XCG-4s, CG-3As, CG-13As, CG-15As and Pigs (PGs) but not the TGs, there were over 15,500 cargo gliders built by the US.

Aren't all gliders flat on the ground at the end of their glide? Sorry for the Mr. Smarty Pants comment. Seriously, with a cut at 8,800ft. How much distance before you were on the ground? Were there spoilers, or some way to cut the glide distance if you were going too far and overshooting your designated landing area?

Were there spoilers, or some way to cut the glide distance if you were going too far and overshooting your designated landing area?