User:Gog the Mild/sandbox5
- Crete
The German airborne forces utilised assault gliders, the DFS 230,[1] which could carry a load of 2,800 pounds (1,300 kg) or nine soldiers and their weapons.[2] They could glide up to fifty miles after release and land very close to a target.[3] Fifty-three in total were used in the attack on Crete.[1] Paratroopers were carried and gliders towed by the reliable tri-motored Junkers Ju 52. Each plane could tow one glider or carry thirteen paratroopers. In the latter case their weapons containers were carried in the planes' external bomb racks.[3]
- Kay, Antony L.; Smith, John R. (2002). German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-85177-920-1.
- Mrazek, James E. (2011). Airborne Combat: The Glider War/Fighting Gliders of WWII. Stackpole military history series. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-4466-9.
- ^ a b Kay & Smith 2002, p. 60.
- ^ Mrazek 2011, p. 287.
- ^ a b MacDonald 1995, p. 17.