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what is it?
The Pratt-Read TG-32 is a 1940s American military training glider, designed and built by the Gould Aeronautical Division of the piano manufacturer Pratt, Read & Company of Deep River, Connecticut, for the United States Navy. The Pratt-Read glider was a monoplane glider having a fabric-covered steel tube fuselage and wooden wings and tail. The unique "polywog (tadpole)" shape was the suggestion of aerodynamicist Charles Townsend Ludington, former owner of the Ludington Line.
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
- Wingspan of 16.6 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
no engine: No engine: it glides on rising air.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1942-03
- number built
- 75
- role
- training glider
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- makers
- Pratt-Read
- engines
- none (glider)
- crew
- 2
- length
- 8 m
- wingspan
- 16.6 m
- height
- 1.8 m
- max take-off weight
- 454 kg
- top speed
- 159 km/h
- range
- —
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q613504, Wikipedia: Pratt-Read TG-32 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.