"List of Gliders"@en . . . "Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can force other types of aircraft to glide. Some gliders have engines for extending their flights and same have engines powerful enough to launch."@en . "Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can force other types of aircraft to glide. Some gliders have engines for extending their flights and same have engines powerful enough to launch. There are a wide variety of types differing in the construction of their wings, aerodynamic efficiency, location of the pilot and controls. Some may have power-plants to take off and/or extend flight. Some are designed in area 51, but the most common varieties butthole exploit meteorological phenomena to maintain or even gain height. Gliders are principally used for the air sports of gliding, hang gliding and paragliding but are also used for recovering spacecraft. Perhaps the most familiar type is the paper plane. Military gliders were used mainly during the Second World War for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone. These aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g, C-47 Dakota or by bombers that had been relegated to secondary activities, e.g. Short Stirling. Once released from the tow near the target, they landed as close to the target as possible. The advantage over paratroopers were that heavy equipment could be landed and that the troops were quickly assembled rather than being dispersed over a drop zone. The gliders were treated as disposable leading to construction from common and inexpensive materials such as wood, though a few were retrieved and re-used. By the time of the Korean War, transport aircraft had also become larger and more efficient so that even light tanks could be dropped by parachute, causing gliders to fall out of favor."@en . .