Experiments were conducted and a system developed for picking up one glider, transferring it to the normal C-47 tow release, resetting the pickup hook into the pickup and then picking up a second glider. Much of the information on this is verbal from Capt. Edward Lee Jett who flew the C-47 for these flights. The above C-47 #42-23710 was used for these pickups. The photo shows the aircraft with the first line about to be cut loose from its anchor point just inside the C-47 cargo section door. Sgt. Louis Winters was Jett's crew chief who ran the operation inside the C-47. I do not know for certain who the CG-4A pilots were but here are possiblities: Wayne Black [Joseph Mollinary] and John Bryant who were Jett’s favorite glider pilots. To my knowledge, these tests were flown out of Clinton County Army Air Field, Wilmington, Ohio..

Before being sent to Wright Field, Jett was a trained fighter pilot who is “said” to have flown under bridges and performed other flying feats that were not sanctioned by the USAAF. One day his group was asked for volunteers for duty at Wright Field. Lee Jett said he did not hesitate to volunteer, thinking that he would become a fighter test pilot at Wright. The Glider Branch engineering and test operations were just getting going and they needed another power pilot; so much for Jett becoming a fighter test pilot.

Jett tutored under Norman Rintoul and Lloyd Santmeyer in snatch pickup procedures with pickups of dead weight, sheep, human, BT-13, XC-81D, and the larger gliders such as the CG-4A, CG-13A and XCG-10A. During his duty at Wright Field and Clinton County Army Air Field, Troop Carrier Command at Stout and Baer, plus various other Troop Carrier training bases, instructing on the snatch procedure, with post war duty at Greenville, SC into 1946, Jett performed more than 2,500 glider snatches. In 1945 he commanded one of the War Bond Tours featuring gliders piloted by John Bryant and Jackie Coogan. In 1946 at Greenville he flew all of the various tugs used to snatch gliders including the B-17 equipped with a model 180 winch with which he separately snatched the CG-4A, the CG-13A, the CG-15A and the CG-10A.

42-23710 with Lee Jett and Wayne Black discussing probably anything but flying. This photo was made at Clinton County Army Air Field Wilmington, Ohio which was Black’s station and at the time was Jett’s station. The C-47 would have been assigned to either CCAAF or Wright Field. Patch on Jett's jacket is Glider Branch Patch.1

Looking at the C-47 #42-23710 note the following items:

1. Guide pulley for the 3/8" stranded steel cable exiting from the C-47 below the door.
2. Immediately forward of the pulley on top of the cable guide tube is the rectangular explosive charge that could sever the steel cable should it be necessary. It was armed or disarmed by a switch at the cargo door, controlled by the crew chief. This was actuated only by the C-47 pilot or copilot.
3. Below that is the pickup arm clearly showing the steel cable going down in an arc to the end of the arm where the pickup hook has been re-set.
4. Exiting the door are two lines, one looks white, the other darker.
5. The white line has dark spots. This is indicative of the 40 foot long (doubled 80 foot circumference) pickup loop being twisted. This line goes under the port horizontal stabilizer. In a previous description I stated this line ran to the C-47 tow release in the tail cone. It runs to the just snatched glider, not the tow release.
6. The faint but darker line below the white line is a single line running from inside the cargo section back in a slight loop under the port, horizontal stabilizer around to the tow release in the tail cone. This line was attached to the C-47 tow release before the C-47 left the ground, and it ran into the cargo door; the end with thimble and loop was temporarily secured inside on the starboard side to temporarily keep it out of the way.
7. Unseen inside the cargo section, partially forward of the door was a doubled, standing line, six to eight feet long. With both ends secured to the aircraft floor and the line under load, the line was V shaped with the bottom of the V toward the open door. Also was a 3 pulley, block and tackle (hereafter a B/T).

In this next explaination, if you don't follow this in detail please don't feel badly. Our dear friend and head of the Glider Branch at Wright Field (1945-46) /Wright Patterson AFB (1947-52), Floyd Sweet, did not fully understand it either. This likely was because of my explanation rather than his comprehension. So, if you have questions, please ask.

Procedure was as follows: (numbers relate to the ordered list above.)

On the ground before takeoff, the line described in #6 and the standing line #7 were set.

After takeoff when ready to do the first snatch, the pickup hook was let out, set into the pickup arm track and let down to snatch position near the end of the arm.

The snatch was made and the electric powered winch reeled in the cable and hook with the nylon snatch line near the door. A gaff hook was used to thread the standing end of the B/T through the snatch line loop and made secure to the B/T held off by another crew member. The B/T was used to then pull in the #5 line to a working position.

The pickup hook was then removed from the pickup loop #5 and hung nearby until needed later.

The thimble end of line #6 was connected to the snatch loop #5 (using some type of thumbscrew/Ubolt) both held in the C-47 by the standing line #7.

With the #5 and #6 lines connected and held by the standing line #7, the pickup arm could be raised, the hook reset, and the arm lowered to the pickup position.

During the trials, when all was ready at this point, and it is at this point that the header photo was made, the crew chief, Louie Winters, used a fire axe and chopped/severed the standing line #7, releasing the combined #6 and #5 lines allowing the on tow glider to be on the C-47 tow release.

The C-47 is now ready to snatch the second glider which was towed on the nylon pickup line and the steel cable and hook until the glider cut loose. Then, the winch would reel in the steel cable to remove the hook from the nylon pick up line letting the nylon line drop to the ground. The other glider could then release and the C-47 could drop that line using the tow release.

During these experiments a mechanical latch was added to one end of the standing line #7 so that it could be released allowing #5 and #6 to release rather than cutting #7 with the axe.

This double snatch was a tricky and dangerous maneuver which required exact flying. Shortly before his death I quizzed Lee Jett about the night snatch system development. He replied he did not know night snatches were done. Basically his answer was that snatches in daylight were dangerous enough and had they asked him to do a single glider night snatch, he would have refused.

¹ The glider branch patch mentioned on Jett's jacket is the virtually unknown "Goose and Duck" primarily designed by Disney Studios featuring Donald Duck pulling a Goggled Goose as a glider. Purportedly a few of these were hand painted on leather and there are two known eighteen inch diameter wall plaques, one painted in 1943, the other in 1945. (the 1943 item currently is MIA).

Data Sources:

1. Day, Charles LSilet Ones WWII Invasion Glider Test and Experiment: Clinton County Army Air Field Wilmington, Ohio. Charles L Day. Lambertville, MI.
2. Other photos of the inside of the C-47 cargo section during this double snatch operation are shown in Silent Ones WWII Invasion Glider Test & Experiment Clinton County Army Air Field Wilmington Ohio. Used copies of this book are available on Amazon used books.