The September, 2011 issue of the Smithsonian Air & Space magazine features a fascinating story about an attempted rescue in 1948 of airmen from two downed aircraft in the arctic using a CG-15A glider. The CG-15A was an improved version of the CG-4, A troop-carrying glider that was used in the WWII Normandy invasion and Operation Market Garden in Holland. The epic began when a U.S. Air Force C-47 crashed in Greenland during a snowstorm. Some crewmen suffered injuries, but all survived. A few days later, the Air Force sent a B-17 to rescue the C-47 crew, but the B-17 became mired in soft snow on landing. Now there were two aircraft and two more crewmen needing rescue!

Curtiss C-46E in flight towing Waco CG-15A glider

The rest of the story revolves around the attempt to bring gliders in (with C-54s as towplanes) to effect a rescue of both crews. The glider pilots had to grapple with IMC conditions, inflight icing, and broken towlines. It’s quite a story, and one I had not heard or read about until I received my issue of Air & Space this week.

The story was based on an account written in longhand by Murl Chamberlain, one of the glider pilots, not long after the mission. The article, Stranded, was written by Chamberlain’s nephew, Edward J. Farmer, and is part of a series in Air & Space titled True Grit, Aviation’s Stories of Determination. To read the article online, click here.