Gribovsky G-11

The Gribovsky G-11 (Russian: Грибовский Г-11) was a Soviet light troop/cargo military glider of World War II.

Shortly after the German attack in 1941, the Soviet headquarters realized a need for transport gliders and ordered the development of several designs.

Vladimir Gribovski agreed to design a light glider in two months and the tests of a prototype started on 1 September 1941.

The fuselage was rectangular in cross-section with a single-seat cockpit in the nose, accessed by an upward opening canopy.

The only known instance of a glider returning from the field occurred in April 1943, when a famous glider and test pilot Sergei Anokhin evacuated two wounded partisan commanders in a G-11, towed by a Tupolev SB bomber, piloted by Yuriy Zhelutov, on a 10 m (33 ft) short towrope.

G-11 gliders were also used in at least one small-scale airborne operation, the Dnepr crossing, carrying anti-tank guns and mortars.