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Glider Production
Notes Waco
CG-3A:100 constructed Waco CG-4: 14,000 constructed (by 16 firms) Waco CG-13: 252 constructed Waco CG-15: 429 consructed Historical Note One The average price paid by the
U.S. Gov't was about $ 25,000 for each CG-4 and were sold surplus after the war for $ 75.00 each. Post-war
purchases of brand new CG-4's (still in their original wooden shipping boxes) was not uncommon. An example
purchase would be that a group of neighbors would pool $75 to purchase
a CG-4...not because they wanted the glider, but because they wanted shipping box. Upon receipt the glider was extracted and hauled off to the city dump and the
box was cut up into sub-sections and then distributed
among the buyer group. The sub-sections were then used for a variety of applications (e.g. a child's playhouse, tool
shed, ham radio shack, chicken coop, etc.). Other uses included house trailers, hunting / fishing cabins and a reported motel. Historical Note Two The Ford Motor Co. produced
4200 CG-4's at their plant in Kingsford, Michigan which represented 30% of the total glider production. As a result
of this higher volume Ford could enjoy an economy of scale to become the least cost producer of the CG-4 as their unit
cost to the U.S. Government was $15,000 vs. $ 25,000 from the other fifteen producers. This former aircraft
factory site is now utilized by Kingsford Products Co. for the manufacture of BBQ charcoal briquettes. Historical Note Three The entire production of Waco CG-3A gliders (100 units) were produced by the Commonwealth
Aircraft Company and at least 50 of these were based at South Plains AAF, TX. As the performance of this early model was deemed
greatly inferior to that of the CG-4 all were scrapped.
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