Quote:
Originally posted by chromeboomerang:
The cargo capacity was 48.500 pounds. So it would appear that the idea of transporting MK 4 tanks to Africa by air was completely within the realms of reality. Glider used no fuel, so cost effectiveness might be reasonable as well. So much for all the negative posts I got a few monthe back on this subject.
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Never say die
Just a couple of points. First of all, gliders are very cheap to operate as they use no fuel to fly, BUT first you have to get them on the air, and then you have to take them to close (a few miles only) to where they are supposed to land, and this requires using a tow plane or tow plane combination, as mentioned. So there goes your fuel efectiveness down the drain.
Also, a tank is a tremendously concentrated load, say your 24 tons on a 6m length. This is a terribly concentrated load on a very short span, and a very serious design problem. This is what I suppose killed those Hamilcars on the landing. Sure they could take the load aloft, but when landing you want an evenly spread load that will not overstress the structure, instead of a big lump of steel concentrated on a single point.
Imagine a truck with a load of bricks. They are more or less distributed along the carrybox length. Now if you stack all the brick pallets on top of each other making a column, your load master will think it a bad idea as he won't like ending up with a bent chassis.
So, I'm ready to believe they could carry the equivalent load, but a load that could be spread along the length of the load floor, say a number of troops. As for a big lump of steel, to repeat my expression above, I will still be waiting for a confirmed source that this did happen (where, when, name of book, photos, etc).