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WACO CG-4A Glider Frame


all-bull
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Hello everyone,

I helped an auctioneer friend a couple months while he sold an old country store estate. I found this there, next to the store. I ended up buying it for $190. The best part is after loading it up, my father and I stopped at a old store to get a drink, and the owner said that he remembered playing on the frame when he was a kid, and he remembers the original owner getting it from a nearby camp, shortly after the war. All four seat frames are present and fold properly, but one of them is no longer attached. There are buckles, oil cannisters, cable pulleys, etc, still on it. Apparently this is where the passengers and/or jeep would have fit. It is a little over six feet tall, and about twelve feet in length. The paint is also, somehow, almost entirely there, except where the frame was cut, and now the edges have rust. Enjoy the pictures of a great piece of forgotten history.

 

 

 

 

My first view:

post-2063-1252412099.jpg

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Finally ready for home! Notice the size of this thing. It took two people and an ax to get it out of the ground, but was not as bad as we originally thought it was. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

post-2063-1252412615.jpg

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Nope, hardly any at all as a matter of fact...You can still read the writing and numbers on the little oil cans at the top too.

 

Wow, that is amazing! No bad corrosion?

 

-Ski

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Yes....a VERY long project. I'm thinking I will try to get a floor in it, and then I have an old jeep I would like to get fixed up and put it in there. Make the whole frame a sort of display, put in a few mannequins, etc in there, and I think it will be pretty neat. Of course, first I need a different place to put the thing, other than my back yard!

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Really cool find!

Here in Belgium, people are restoring a WACO glider too.

I have a couple of glider parts too (not the big part like you have though) from a glider that crashed in my area on 17.09.1944.

 

Keep us posted on the progress of your project, please. :)

 

Erwin

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Yes....a VERY long project. I'm thinking I will try to get a floor in it, and then I have an old jeep I would like to get fixed up and put it in there. Make the whole frame a sort of display, put in a few mannequins, etc in there, and I think it will be pretty neat. Of course, first I need a different place to put the thing, other than my back yard!

I can see that, very nice solution.

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In the 90's a museum in Michigan (I think) was restoring one, the museum is located near where some were built. It is quite an undertaking; they had to specially machine a lot of parts.

That is a really great save, Good Luck with this project!

BKW

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What a great find. I would love to take on a project like that. Very lucky.

I don't think I would have known what it was if I had seen it. I would have just thought it was scrap.

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The Airzoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan has one on display.....

 

Looking at an exposed frame really clears up questions I had about the CG4A. My dad help land one in Holland. His had a jeep inside. The landing was so hard it jammed the hinge assembly on the nose and the pulley system would not work, (a cable was attached to the rear of the jeep and then connected to the nose of the glider. Under ideal circumstances, when the jeep was driven forward, the cable/pulley system would raise the whole pilot/co-pilot area up allowing the jeep to drive right out the front of the glider.) Dad said they had to get the axe off the jeep and chop a hole in the side of the glider, through the framework, and wrestle the jeep out the side of the glider. He added it was hard work and took some time but they finally got it out.

 

Thanks for the posting and be sure to keep us informed on your project.

 

 

 

Greg

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Nope, hardly any at all as a matter of fact...You can still read the writing and numbers on the little oil cans at the top too.

 

Could you post close pics of the oil cans and pulleys? I am curious to see hoe it all looks and works.

Thanks

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What a great story Greg, and thanks for everyone's comments!

 

Now, as per request:

 

Pulley, as viewed from top....Looks like there used to be another on the same diagonal pole but closer to the seats...it is no longer there

post-2063-1252883207.jpg

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I am assuming either that or the cable pulleys operated this spring (only located on one side), but not sure what the spring did unless it opened the front or back of the glider.

post-2063-1252883434.jpg

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