That Old Crate
From Minnesota cratemakers, a new CG-4 glider like the ones they built in World War II.
- By Lynn Keillor
- Air & Space magazine, July 2011
The World War II transports were considered stealthy — in audio signature only.
NASM (SI NEG. #83-310~PM)
It’s a hot, noisy walk back to Building 3 at Villaume Industries in suburban Minneapolis. The high-pitched whine of saws and pneumatics mixes with the smell of sawdust as employees build triangular wood trusses and crates.
In the back of the warehouse, between pallets of materials and the rollers where finished products exit, is a frame of a different sort: the shell of a World War II CG-4A glider. With its metal tube frame and precise, delicate woodwork, it’s right at home: In the early 1940s, Villaume was one of more than 16 U.S. companies contracted to build gliders designed by the Waco Aircraft Company.
At the height of the glider boom, Villaume employed 1,500 people—mostly women—working three shifts, six days a week, to keep up with demand. They finished a glider every six days. Today, about seven volunteers with an interest in World War II show up every Tuesday and Thursday to connect the 72,000 parts needed to re-create a glider. It’s their tribute to this lesser-recognized World War II aircraft, and comes with the bonus of letting them work with an original manufacturer.
Villaume Industries is the classic immigrant success story: French-born Eugene comes to Minnesota and in 1882 opens a box manufacturing business. Business is good, and product lines expand to millwork, which is still the company’s product offering today.
The company’s initial contribution to World War II was thousands of K-ration cartons for the armed services; another major contract was for ammunition crates. Then, in 1942, Villaume won a bid as a sub-contractor to build the wooden components (wings, floors, control surfaces) for gliders that would carry paratroopers and equipment. A separate contract called for building shipping crates in which to deliver glider components overseas. Production ramped up quickly: In two months, Villaume increased its workforce tenfold. Most workers were new to the woodworking business, and learned how to build the gliders from military personnel.
“This wasn’t furniture, it was aircraft,” Linsmayer says. “Men’s lives depended on the quality of what we were doing.”
Gliders were used primarily in the European theater as disposable aircraft, towed to their destinations largely by C-47 Dakotas, the military version of the Douglas DC-3. Less expensive than powered aircraft and stealthier—at least in audio signature—they held either 13 soldiers and their equipment or a full-size jeep. Villaume built around 11 percent of the 14,000 gliders produced nationwide. Most went to the Army Air Forces and the Royal Air Force; the Navy took 13. Linsmayer knows of only a handful of original gliders still in existence. Once they had completed a mission, he says, local residents used them for firewood or building material (see “A Waco’s Happy Ending,” Aug./Sept. 2002).
When the war ended, Villaume went back to its previous business, and gliders became just a footnote in company records—until World War II buffs began contacting Linsmayer for information. Glider history, especially Villaume’s involvement, became his passion. When aircraft restorers Jim Johns and Ingemar Holm approached Linsmayer in 2007 about re-creating a glider, he offered warehouse space and donated much of the wood needed as raw material.
Comments (4)
My father Frank Sinicrope was an inspector at the New Departure war plant in Deep River, CT where they made CG4-A's during WW2. He was also a skilled model maker, and made a model of the WACO with a 43 3/4-inch wingspan. I still have it.
Posted by Robert Sinicrope on May 30,2011 | 06:53 PM
We visited the Villaume glider building project this spring and were very impressed. The dedicated volunteers are gifting future generations with a piece of history for Minnesotans can be proud of. Thank you! My uncle, F/O Sylvan Lucier,
died flying double tow in that amazing cargo carrier, after completing two WWII missions. He loved flying and he loved his country. SylvanLucier.blogspot.com
Posted by eanephew on June 16,2011 | 03:13 PM
It’s unusual to read about a group of people getting together and building something as unglamorous as a WWII glider. And as a former military pilot, I tried to imagine what it felt like as a 20 year Army pilot crammed into a disposable aircraft with about a dozen other edgy young men, on a one way mission to the D-Day landings. They were truly courageous men.
Posted by Bob Bernier on July 22,2011 | 06:49 AM
If someone were to have a few of these gliders today or at least the cabin portion of this CG-4 glider, what would they be worth?
Posted by Bryan Rowley on October 28,2012 | 10:58 AM