COBI Waco CG-4 Set 5755

COBI's Waco CG-4 is a 1:48 model built from 784 blocks, 31 cm long, carrying the official logo of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. A new brick was made for the hinged nose, and an American glider pilot figure is included. All markings are printed.

Built to be used once

A CG-4 was plywood, steel tube and fabric, and it cost a fraction of an aeroplane because nobody expected it to survive the landing. It had no engine, no armour and no way of going round again. The pilot got one approach, at night, into a field he had never seen, having been released from the tow at a few hundred metres.

The nose hinged upward, which is the feature this model reproduces and the reason the glider existed: with the cockpit lifted out of the way, a jeep or a 75 mm howitzer could be driven straight out. Thirteen soldiers, or a vehicle, delivered to a field behind enemy lines with no runway.

The pilots were in an odd position. They were officers with wings, flying into combat unarmed, and the moment they landed their aircraft was scrap and they became infantry — expected to fight alongside the men they had just carried until someone could walk them back to the beach.

Around 13,900 were built, more than any other glider in history. They went into Sicily, Normandy, Market Garden and across the Rhine.

In the COBI range

The set is sized to match COBI's Douglas C-47 Skytrain, the aircraft that towed it — the two build a complete D-Day pairing.

Specifications

Pieces: 784 · Figures: 1 glider pilot · Scale: 1:48 · Hinged nose
Model dimensions: 31 × 9.5 cm (12.2 × 3.7 in)