In talking to tug pilots they say that when the snatch is made it is like the C-47 stops for a second in mid-air. As soon as the C-47 is about to hit the rope full throttle is made. You may find this article interesting on our website. www.ww2gp.org/gliderpickup/gberry.php

Sorry for the late reply. He was exaggerating of pulling your leg. The engineers made sure they were flight worthy. It would be on them if something went wrong with the glider on snatch. That is in regards to reclamation after a combat mission. However they were snatch when they had to release for other reasons and not on an air field. Also the snatch takes them to 120 MPH. Yes 200 could damage the glider. C-47 is not to fly the glider over 120. A friend certified to do snatches said that when he was in the glider it was no more Gs than a carnival ride. However, when he was copilot in the C-47 he said that the C-4, when it makes the snatch, seems to come to a complete stop in the air for a split second. The C-47 is only 25 feet off the ground to do the snatch.

It started with the mail system in the 1920-30s. they used the snatch system in remote towns to pickup mail. Then when the war started and in Burma they needed to get injured troops out of the jungle so they perfected the system with the drum payout.

You might be interested in this article on our website. www.ww2gp.org/gliderpickup/gberry.php Gerald "Bud" Berry just passed away last November. He was one of the best snatch gliders and he gave me an exclusive story about the first snatch out of Normandy. --Patricia

@@nationalworldwariigliderpi545 Thanks Patricia. For sure I'll take a look, it sounds interesting. How incredibly fortunate you caught up with the bloke before parts of his story were lost to the river of time. . Its more likely your organisation fed the BGA than vice versa when they worked on the article - But for such interest as it it may be, their magazine 'Sailplane & Gliding' carried a feature in 2019 or 2020 about volunteering, selection & training of the British glider pilots, plus the gliders themselves. Folk may or may not realise they were Army, not RAF. ('Though the RAF provided most of their training). Curiously enough, the one piece which stands out in my memory was a picture of the recruiting poster - A Red Devil or Demon with the words 'So, You want to be a Glider Pilot' as the 'Banner' headline. Guess it struck a chord.

We have some great closeup photos and additional information on our website at ww2gp.org/gliderpickup/ There is also statistics in Keith Thoms article on the right sidebar. The system was used extensively in Burma to get tractors and equipment into the jungle to create landing strips for the C-47s . Once a glider landed it needed to be extracted from the jungle so the snatch was used. In our membership Briefing there has been articles on the question mark symbol that was put on the C-47 tails and the Project Nine work. I need to add those eventually to the website. In the ETO after combat missions the gliders were repaired and snatched for another mission. Had they not done this work there would not have been enough gliders for the last major operation of the war in the ETO VARSITY. One of our current members is a WWII glider mechanic who not only repaired the gliders but piloted them out on the snatch. I was told that it is no different than a carnival ride. One minute you are on the ground the next you are going 120 miles an hour. Those in the C-47 says when the hook connects it is like the C-47 stops in mid air for a second.

In my opinion, the best snatch pilot in the European Theater was Gerald "Chuck" Berry. The logistics of altitude and crossing the top of the snatch line with the length of the propeller coming below the belly of the C-47, to me, is interesting. Chuck had an issue with his pickup pole when snatching a glider out of Normandy and had to decide if he could go any lower to make the pickup. Check it out: www.ww2gp.org/gliderpickup/gberry.php Snatching gliders were necessary in Burma to get the gliders out of the jungle. They even did night snatches. www.ww2gp.org/burma/nightRetrieval.php Check out our website at www.ww2gp.org Not sure why flim or TV never picks up on the glider program. Those who do mention it often get the information wrong because they do not take the time to do the research. I think they look at it as a taxi driver only. Thanks for your comment! Kind regards, Patricia Overman

It is back in the 1940s.

President Reagan served with the First Motion Picture Unit. I’ll bet this is his voiceover.

@@stevewyatt88 probably. Did not know that he served in that Unit. Thanks.

@@nationalworldwariigliderpi545 It is Reagan. Films were made by movie studios. Narrators worked for the studios. The script was written by the military.

It was in the New Guinea rescue of some plane crash survivors. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_New_Guinea_Gremlin_Special_rescue

Hell yea thousands of times

Here is the snatch numbers. The only missing is one taken out of Bastogne. www.ww2gp.org/gliderpickup/MilitarySnatchPickupSummaryKT.pdf

It is Reagan. The Hollywood studios made hundreds of training films during the war. Disney was almost all military training films and cartoons during the war. The scripts were written by the military or manufacturers but they needed trained speakers to narrate.

What was your father's name? We have all glider pilots in our database. As far as deaths with snatch pickups that did not happen. The gliders in combat did controlled crashes with the terrain unknown however, the enemy fire knocking out controls and those crashes often resulted in injuries and death. The actual controlled snatch were safe. I would very much like to know the circumstance of your father's death. Please contact me at nwwiigpa@gmail.com I am a member of the National WWII Glider Pilot Association's research team. Kind regards, Patricia Overman

@@nationalworldwariigliderpi545 -i know all the history of the glider pilots===my sister was in contact with your group and shared all the data she had,pictures,his unit,etc--dad not die in ww2--the guy i am named after did,another glider pilot-thank you for your interest--my dad died of alcoholism in 1968--my son was a helicopter pilot in the Iraq,afghan wars--soloed a glider at age 14 at Bishop Calif at the age of 14 in a rain storm--his instructor was old school,said stay away from those clouds!!! soloed a 150 on the day he turned 16 by SLC utah--joined the 160th on the day he turned 18--downed aircraft recovery team,nightstalkers--i am afraid we are headed to ww 3 with nukes Patricia,wish you well