This Gotha 242 glider was at Clinton County AAF by the middle of 1944. At CCAAF, it was flown, precisely measured and photographed in the original German camouflage scheme as built in Germany.  Sometime in late 1945 the glider was re-painted to this T2-2700 scheme and photographed at CCAAF.

A photo of the Gotha 242 in the T2-2700 paint/number scheme appeared in the Dayton (Ohio) Journal newspaper July 11, 1946.  The photo caption stated, "A huge German glider landed at Wright Field yesterday after its initial flight over this country. The craft, with a crew of five, arrived here after an hours travel from Freeman Field, Seymour, Ind.

Of course, this spurious story of the first flight over this country ignored the fact the glider had been flown at Wilmington, Ohio two years prior to the flight to Wright Field from Freeman Field.  From Wright Field the glider was piloted by Major Floyd J. Sweet, then head of the Glider Branch at Wright Field, to Elmira, NY for display at the National Soaring Meet.  Courtesy of Charles Day, Author "Silent Ones, WWII Invasion Glider Test & Experiment, Clinton County Army Air Field, Wilmington, Ohio", writing 11/27/2005  Email Charles Day

Columbus Herald
07/24/1946

"Another 'First' Set At Freeman"
German Gotha Glider Towed Aloft for Maiden Flight

FREEMAN FIELD, Seymour, Ind., July 24 (1946) -- Another "first" was registered by Freeman Field recently when a huge German Gotha glider was towed aloft from the field for its maiden flight. The occasion marked the first time that a glider of this type has ever been flown in the United States.

Received in crates from Germany where Technical Intelligence teams had discovered it, the huge personnel and cargo carrier was turned over to the Technical Operations section of the Engineering Services division of this Air Materiel Command Foreign Evaluation center earlier this year for repair and assembly.

The Gotha 242 was towed aloft by a B-17. After it was discovered that the glider was completely airworthy it was towed to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, where it will be put through a series of tests to obtain further information on its construction and characteristics.

Designed to carry a payload of approximately 6,500 pounds, the twin boomed glider has a wing span of 79 feet and is 53 feet long. It weighs approximately eight and a half tons loaded.