Taylorcraft LBT

The Taylorcraft LBT was a glider designed and built by Taylorcraft during World War II, in response to a United States Navy requirement for a glider bomb. One of three prototype "Glombs" ordered by the Navy, the LBT suffered from technical and performance difficulties, and was cancelled early in production, none of the aircraft seeing operational service.

Design and development

During December 1940, the United States Navy began studies of a proposed "glider bomb", which was intended to be an inexpensive, unpowered aircraft, remotely controlled from another, conventional aircraft, that would be capable of delivering bombs to an enemy target without putting aircrew at risk to the target's defenses. The glider bomb, or "Glomb", would be towed by an ordinary carrier-based aircraft to the area of its target; guidance following release of the glider from its towing aircraft was intended to be provided by a TV camera located in the nose of the glider, which would transmit its signal to a piloted aircraft, an operator aboard the control aircraft using radio control to steer the Glomb to its target. Following the Navy's initial evalulation, the Glomb comcept was deemed to be worth developing further, and the project was given official status by the Bureau of Aeronautics in April 1941.