The pilots were known as suicide jockeys and the aircraft they flew were called flak bait.
The CG4A was towed behind the C47, the military version
of the DC-3, with a nylon tow rope eleven-sixteenths.
of an inch in diameter, and 350 feet long with a single glider
on tow. On a double tow, the tow ropes were 350 and
425 feet long; both attached to a D-ring coupler that fitted
to the towplane's tail. The gliders were positioned about
75 feet apart.