NWWIIGPA-St Louis glider Crash

NWWIIGPA-St Louis glider Crash

Quick science lesson: Gliders, in order to stay in the air, must have a minimum of two (2) wings, preferably one on each side. On its first public exhibition in St. Louis in 1943, this Waco glider crashed after a poorly-fastened bolt came loose and the starboard wing sheared off. The glider plummeted 2,000 feet onto Lambert field and hit the ground with what one witness described as a dull thud, killing 10 people.

A serious glider accident occurred August 1, 1943 at Lambert Field, St. Louis, MO. The sixty-fifth CG-4A, #42-78839, built by the Robertson Company, was towed aloft for publicity demonstration flights. On the first flight, six people were on board and the flight and landing were satisfactory.1 On board the second flight were Capt. Milton C. Klugh, pilot; Pfc. J. M. Davis, co-pilot and mechanic; Lt. Col. Paul H. Hazelton, AAF resident representative, St, Louis area office; William B. Robertson, president; and Harold H. Krueger, VP and production manager, both of the Robertson Aircraft Company; William Dee Becker, Mayor; Charles L. Cunningham, Deputy Controller; and Max H. Doyne, Director of Public Welfare, of the city of St. Louis; Thomas N. Dysart, president St. Louis Chamber of Commerce; and Henry L. Mueller, Judge, St. Louis CountyDuring the second flight, Capt. Klugh radioed the tug pilot at 3:55 P.M. he was going to pull up to release. At release, the right wing rotated upward and tore away from the wing root. The glider was approximately fifteen hundred feet above the ground and immediately turned nose down. All on board were killed. Investigation the next day established the wing strut end, part number 28207, broke. Part #28207 bolted to the fitting on the fuselage floor.The fitting was manufactured by machining from solid bar stock.

The finished thickness of this part was to be not less than eleven thirty-seconds of an inch. The finished thickness of the broken part was less than two thirty-seconds of an inch. The fitting was manufactured by Gardner Metal Products Co., a former casket manufacturer in St. Louis. This company manufactured this part for both Robertson and Laister-Kauffmann.

On receipt of these parts, each glider manufacturer inspected the parts and shipped them to Aircraft Metals Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis, Missouri that assembled the strut tubes by welding the end, part #28207, into the tube. After that, the glider manufacturer had no way to verify the end parts he had accepted or rejected were in the strut tube assemblies received from Aircraft Metals Manufacturing. Mr. Jack Laister of the Laister Kauffmann Co told me that just two months prior to this crash his company had rejected quite a number of these parts from Gardner because of walls being as thin as three thirty-seconds of an inch.Although machined so thin, this part on the crashed glider, had withstood the stress of the load caused by the pull up for release on the first flight.

However, it may have begun to crack or break on that first flight. After the crash, all CG-4A gliders built by Robertson and Laister-Kauffmann were grounded until inspection of part number 28207 proved to be satisfactory.2 The Robertson inspectors responsible for these parts were relieved of their jobs and refused any job on government work within the St. Louis

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