Best Friends

I am sure that everyone has a best friend. I know I do. So here is a little something for the best of best friends :)

Although it's quite a statement
Well, it happens to be true
The best friend I have ever had
I'm glad to say, is you.

You're there if I should need you
And you never turn away
I know I can depend on you
At any time of day.

We've had our ups and downs
As nearly everybody does
But problems never last for long
With special friends like us.

Some people have so many friends
With whom they spend their time
But no-one has a best friend
Who's as wonderful as mine.

So thanks for always being there
Your friendship's strong and true
And I just want to let you know
I'm always there for you !

Here's Looking At You, Kid

As I sit here, my mind wanders and takes a trip back through time. I see myself through all the phases of my life and I see every moment that influenced me, that changed me, that made me into the person I am today. And I wonder...if those things hadn't happened and I hadn't made certain decisions, would I still be at this point today where I am now? Would the outcome have been the same? Would I be me?
To be honest, this is probably too deep for me to really think about tonight. I am too happy. You see, through all these years I have been running to find happiness. And like Solomon said, the things I ran after and pursued were mere vanity. Vanity of vanities...all is vanity. I wasted all those years for nothing. And yet, through those wasted years I have learned some of life's most valuable lessons. I learned patience...granted, I can use a ton more but I did learn SOME patience :-)
I learned to stick to something and finish it instead of giving up. I learned that sometimes those whom we think are our friends will leave us and forsake us and stab us in the back but that we must never hate them for it, rather we ought to love them all the more because they clearly need that love. I learned forgiveness as well through those experiences. And how to be kind towards others. And how to wait on God for answers to prayers.
Ah yes...of all my lessons, waiting for GOD to answer in HIS time and not mine...that was the biggest of all. Human nature is such that we are constantly grasping for more...wanting MORE...when all we need is right here in front of us. All I ever needed was right in front of me all the time but I was too blind to see it. How selfish one can become. How greedy. Years of agony passed before I learned that vital and all important truth...what we WANT isn't necessarily what we NEED. It isn't always good for us.

Lately I have been doing some soul searching and I found to my disgust that this pitiful being that is me, has still got so many terrible faults and failings. How excruciating was that discovery, and yet how fulfilling! Now that I finally SEE I am able to change. And what wonderful motivation it is to have friends who love and care and stand by one through these times of discovery and anguish. And who depend on me as much as I depend on them! To be wanted...oh sweet bliss. To be wanted, needed, is one of the things which has haunted me for so many years. It is something I haven't experienced until recently. Something that has always been a big black hole in my soul. I despised myself for being needy, for wanting comfort and needing peace. But then I found it all in the most unexpected place and I had my eyes opened to how things ought to be, how life ought to be lived, and the extent of my previous blindness hit me like a tidal wive and brought me to my knees in tears.

What a fool I have been, what a sweet disaster has been this past life of mine, all to culminate in the here and now. Everything I have ever been through has brought me to this point right here, right now.
I sit here and my mind wanders....back to that innocent little girl, laughing as she dances through puddles in the rain. Sweet innocence, child-like beauty and grace...I lift my hand in a wave and utter the words, "Here's looking at you, kid" before closing that chapter on my past and turning to face my future with a smile. What excitement awaits, what joy, what passion, what adventure!

DFS – 230 vs. CG -4A WACO

I went through a phase at one time where I researched anything to do with either WW1 or WW2. This was one of the many things I wrote and the only one that got published :)

Unusual aircraft have been used through-out history, both in times of war and in times of peace. One of the more interesting of these aircraft is the glider, more specifically the CG-4A Waco and DFS-230. Although both of these were used during World War 2 they were not, however, on the same side.

DFS-230

Under provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to reduce its land army and was prohibited from having an air force. Innovative as always, the Germans designed and built gliders and glider clubs started all over the country. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, the men who were trained in gliders helped to form the core of the new German air-force, the Luftwaffe. The first DFS-230 made its maiden flight early in 1937.

The structural design of the DFS-230 was extremely conventional. The wings are made entirely of wood and have a span of 72 feet. The long-span ailerons with inset tabs were fabric covered and the wing was braced to the fuselage at quarter-span by light struts. The fuselage is of tubular steel construction and the nose is hinged. From nose to tail the glider measures 38 feet and each end is fitted with a door for rapid exit.

Inside the glider, there is a single line of seats, six of which face forward and four backward. The four seats at the back can be removed to provide more space for freight.

The DFS-230 is built to carry 10 equipped troops (including the pilot) as well as another 270kg. Empty, the glider weighs in at 770kg but when it is loaded up it weighs 2040kg or more. With a normal load, the DFS-230 has a glide ratio 18. Due to having to keep the weight to a minimum, the DFS-230 has only the most basic instruments. These are phosphorescent and include air speed indicator, altimeter, rate-of-climb indicator and a compass. Inside the nose of the glider there is a 24-volt storage battery to operate navigation lights, cabin lights and also the landing light, which is under the port wing.

The DFS-230 was generally towed by Junkers 52 (three engine transports) and if the Ju-52 had extra fuel then it could tow the glider for over 1600km! When towing the glider varying lengths of rope are used awarding to the air-field space available. The glider handles much better with a longer tow rope. Gliding distances after release from the tow plane are variable and depend on factors such as wind speed, altitude of release, direction of wind relative to line of flight, navigation errors and evasive action. The DFS-230 requires only a small landing area and if the skid is wrapped with barbed wire or fitted with arresting hooks, then landing in an even smaller area is doable. The DFS-230 reaches a maximum gliding speed of 161km/h at 300m and has a free glide sink rate of 1.2m/s.

CG-4A WACO

Dreadfully ugly but very efficient is the way the CG-4A Waco glider has been described. It was designed, built and manufactured during World War 2 by the Allies. This incredibly sturdy and reliable aircraft was a cargo delivery container that was built to carry the tools of war where today the helicopter would go. It was also America’s primary combat glider. After seeing how effectively the Germans used gliders (chiefly the DFS – 230) at the beginning of World War 2, the Allies got to work developing and producing their own army of gliders. They discovered that the CG- 4A was more reliable and hardy than other gliders and so lost no time in mass producing this model. What the CG-4A lacked in grace and poise, it made up for in sheer mass numbers!

The fuselage is a big tubing box with the nose slightly blunted and extremely large Hershey bar wings attached. The wings have a fantastic span of 83ft8in and they are made entirely of wood. The spars are boxes that have laminated spar caps as well as plywood faces. These spars are joined 23 feet out from the fuselage while the inner sections are braced for torsion by a pair of strong streamlined struts. These struts are constructed from round tubes with aluminum ribs on the front and back. After this they are covered with fabric. The wheels and brakes are just about identical to those of a T-6, although the CG-4A’s tires are bigger. The brakes and spoilers are hydraulic with the controls being of the Armstrong variety.

Empty, the CG-4A weighs in at 1515kg and the gross weight is officially listed as 3401kg or more.

A Gooney Bird (DC – 3) was used to tow the glider and the towing speed was 193km/h, with the normal stall being 80.5km/h (which didn’t mean a thing if the glider was overloaded!). With a normal load, the CG-4A has a glide ratio of around 12:1. The CG-4A can carry 13 men with their combat equipment or a 75mm howitzer that is attached to a Jeep, or else a Jeep pulling a trailer load of ammunition. There is a strong cable that runs from the top of the hinged nose section all the way down to the top of the fuselage turns through a pulley and is then attached to the back of the howitzer or Jeep. The minute that the glider touches down, a latch is tripped on the nose section so that, if the load breaks free and tries to exit the front of the craft, its movement forward will yank the nose and pilots up and out of harm’s way. Thus preventing them from getting unceremoniously squashed!

Due to its simple design, companies with no previous manufacturing experience were able to construct the airframe of the CG-4A. Nor did any one company have the contract of constructing the whole craft. The prime contractor would do the fuselages and steel work and all the wood work would be given to those with expertise in wood, most notably furniture manufacturers. All the parts would then come in from the different subcontractors and be assembled at the main plant.

Unfortunately, the story has a sad ending. At the end of the war, the fate of the CG-4A was decided: there wasn’t a single possible civilian use for the glider so it was gotten rid of as quickly as possible. There weren’t even enough instruments inside the glider that were worth saving. The only thing that made them valuable was the military method of packing them for shipment. The glider broke down for packing in five gigantic crates. In typical military style, these crates weren’t just boxes but used the highest grade pine and fir that was available. The crates used so much lumber it was said they could be used to build a small house! And it was what made them worth the money which bidders paid for the complete gliders. They would drag the crates out to the farm, push the glider out into the trees after burning the wings, and use the boxes for the lumber.

Long before the Korean War started the CG-4A was almost entirely extinct. It was barely a memory, except to those who flew it.

Combat History

The CG-4A went into operation in July 1943 during the Allied invasion in Sicily. They were also used in the American airborne landing in Normandy on 6 June 1944, as well as in other important airborne operations throughout Europe and in the China-Burma-India Theater.

The DFS-230 was first used on 10 May 1940 in the attack on Fort Eben Emael in Belgium. Subsequently, these gliders were used in Greece on April 26, 1941 and in Crete on May 20, 1941. However, after suffering heavy casualties in the battle at Crete, the gliders were never used on such a massive scale again.

The DFS-230 and the CG-4A may be quite different in the way they are built and in their general characteristics, but in their crew they were very similar. No matter for which side they were flying, glider riders, as they were called, all had the same life expectancy in combat -17 seconds.

A poster designed by the glider troops that began circulating around the barracks explained their plight: “Join the Glider Troops! No Jump Pay. No Flight Pay. But Never A Dull Moment!”