In 1941, the U.S. Army acquired the 1938 model Schweizer 2-8 all-metal sailplane, designating it the XTG-2, for training glider pilots. The following year, the Navy ordered 13 of the sailplanes, designating them LNS-1, for use by the Marine Corps' glider training program, Glider Group 71, at Parris Island, South Carolina. It soon became apparent that the sailplane glide ratios were far different from the sink rates that would be encountered by pilots when flying heavier assault gliders.

By 1943, the Navy abandoned the sailplane type gliders, opting for modified light planes from which the engine had been removed. One such example, designated LNT-1, was a Taylorcraft with an added seat in the nose to maintain balance. The aircraft had glide ratios and sinking speeds more in line with the cargo/troop gliders that pilots would use operationally. By 1943, however, the efficacy of glider operations in Naval Aviation had come under question, and the program was abandoned, with many of the students transferred to regular flight training.