Christopher AG-1 and Timm AG-2 assault gliders

[Stargazer]

Alongside the training and cargo gliders already in service at the outbreak of World War II, an idea that received more attention with the U.S. Army Air Force was the assault glider. Major Lewin B. Barringer, a glider specialist, on the staff of AAF, presented blueprints for such a glider in the summer of 1942. It consisted of a glider which could be used by air landing infantry on fields which had not been secured by parachute troops. Equipped with .50-caliber and .30-caliber machine guns, it would be towed at high speed by combat airplanes and carry five or six fully equipped infantrymen, with provision for some protective armament and two rocket launchers. Personnel would include a pilot, a co-pilot and four gunners.

Two designs were contracted: one from Christopher (AG-1) and the other from Timm Aircraft Company of Van Nuys, California (AG-2). The former company is largely undocumented, while the latter made a name for itself mostly as a subcontractor (notably by producing Waco Hadrian cargo glider) but also in producing the Navy's sole duramold trainer, the N2T-1 Tutor. The Timm AG-2 only went as far as a full-size mock-up before the Air Force lost interest in the assault glider concept as an off-the-shelf type.


Sources:

- Out of the Blue: U.S. Army Airborne Operations in World War II
- Airborne Combat: Axis and Allied Glider Operations in World War II

More on Timm:

- Timm page at Aerofiles

 

[Tophe]

I have not seen them in the book "Fighting Gliders of World War II" by J. Mrazek, 1977.
Thanks for this addition (and links).

 

[Jos Heyman]

Here is what I got in my files:
Two examples of the XAG‑1 assault glider for six troops and two pilots and fitted with a gun turret, were ordered in February 1943 with serials 44‑84153/84154 but work was suspended on 2 September 1943, pending a cancellation on 11 October 1943. It has been suggested a mock-up was completed. The development was also known as MX-325.
Two examples of the XAG‑2 assault glider for six troops and two pilots and fitted with a gun turret, were ordered on 22 May 1943 with serials 44‑90991/90992 but work was suspended on 2 September 1943 followed by a cancellation on 11 October 1943. It has been suggested a mock-up was completed.
The development was also known as MX-325.

BTW the photo showing the XAG-2 model was also in Mrazek's book.
Also presume you are aware of the BG = Bomb Gliders and FG = Fuel Gliders.

 

[Stargazer]

Also presume you are aware of the BG = Bomb Gliders and FG = Fuel Gliders.

Yep. AG, BG, CG, FG, PG and TG...

 

[Stargazer]

Taken from the article "Sideshow Curiosities - American Military Glider Experiments of WWII" by Bill Norton, published by the AAHS (color added for clarity).