- published: 13 Sep 2015
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The Schweizer cargo glider designs were a series of design proposals made to the United States Army Air Force by the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation of Elmira, New York during the Second World War. None of the designs was accepted by the USAAF and no cargo gliders were built by Schweizer during the war.
The four designs proposed are of note due to having been assigned Schweizer model numbers. Due to the lack of production of these designs, Schweizer concentrated on designing and building the TG-2 and TG-3 training gliders instead. When the training glider contracts were completed Schweizer turned to subcontract work for other aircraft manufacturers. This trend continued after the war when Schweizer would increasingly turn to subcontract work to supplement the small amount of revenue realized from designing and building gliders.
The German use of glider-borne attack on the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael and their use in the Battle of Crete convinced the US military that they would need glider-borne forces of their own.