Horsa Glider: Exploring the Hero of D-Day and Arnhem.
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- Опубликовано: 8 май 2024
- Viewers to the Museum may have noticed this massive Airspeed HORSA. But why is an Unpowered Glider from a company called Airspeed included in the de Havilland Aircraft Museum? The HORSA Glider was a key to military operations including D-Day ("Overlord"), and Arnhem ("Market Garden"). Thanks to the meticulous research by our volunteers, we can now tell you more facts about this amazing aircraft, and why it deserves such a prominent place at Salisbury Hall. As a result, we are able to launch the longest and most extensive aircraft video we have published to date. We hope this will be a fitting tribute to the men and women who designed and built the HORSA, and the brave soldiers who flew in her. Our special thanks to Martin from the Horsa Restoration Team at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum for showing us around this exhibit.
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My Uncle Staff Sgt George Davis was a Horsa Pilot. Flew into Arnhem, captured in the town. Finished the war in a POW camp in Poland. He visited the museum and signed the visitors book. He didn't talk about his wartime experiences until he was in his 70's.
Yes indeed, S/Sgt Davis was with 14 Flt, 'F' Squadron GPR, most of whose Horsas were towed by Dakotas from Blakehill Farm.
@@martinbull5307 Hi. Thanks for the info 🙂 Actually thinking about Horsa gliders for another reason today, Gloucester Airport is in the news, I visited their museum a few years ago and looked at their Horsa replica. I used to live in Barnet, so I was a regular visitor Salisbury Hall, even before the big hanger was built!
My mother used to live next to a couple, the husband of which was there on the day, watching the paratroopers land. He told me during a drive down the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, that he and his mates used to sneak out at night to forage for food, avoiding German patrols and that's how they fed their families who were all hiding in cellars. And this all came about because I happened to mention one of my favourite films was a Bridge Too Far. (Amazing how life turns out sometimes!)
My father was a cabinet maker and worked at Lebus's in Tottenham. When war came, he was drafted into the work force that built the Horse Gliders and De Havilland Mosquitos
That's fascinating ! The dH Museum Horsa fuselage was built by Harris Lebus and we have been doing much research into the aviation history of HL, which is perilously close to being forgotten.
Just when you think you’ve seen enough to understand why they were the greatest generation you see something like this and hear the stories and you realize all over again just how great they are.
I'm a 77year old man in an independant living unit in British Columbia, Canada and was wowed and amazed by the workmanship and the relatable stories along with the commentary. I found myself, living alone..............saying right out loud.........wow or I didn't know that or that's amazing, thank you very much for the well done video. just subscribed as well.........cheers.
Hope you are having a good retirement there. My mother-in-law was in a similar situation. We can all be proud that we used these planes to win the war.
My father was aglider pilot who flew Horsa Gliders during D Day and Arnem land, I grew up on stories of Horsa gliders and their role in WW2
Arnem land? You mean Arnhem(The Netherlands) or arnem land (Australia)
@@wolfgangschoonderwal5791 Sorry Arnhem land (The Netherlands) as an Australian it was a typo, oops.
Your father and his fellow glider pilots were very brave men.Not really knowing what problems they were going to be faced with on their landing.
You must have been very proud of him.
@@josephalvaro5244 Indeed I was. thank you.
Thank you for such a detailed video on the Airspeed Horsa. My wife's uncle landed near the Normandy coast DDay+2, in a glider and tasked to "mop-up" and secure villages Allied forces sped through. He was diverted to another glider when the first plane was fitted with a Jeep and reached the max load with soldiers. That glider crashed on landing killing all aboard. His glider had a very rough landing and vowed never to get into another airplane. On the ground there were many squad level German solders separated from their main units - so according to him, fighting was house to house and intense.
Many thanks for your comment. Overloading was a major problem for assault gliders ( British and American ). It could cause the stalling speed to increase which led to excessive landing speed ; often with distrous results in the confined Normandy fields.
In 1974, when I was a furniture design student, I wrote my thesis on the subject of the furniture
industry in World War Two. After qualifying, my first job was with a company in Burnley, Lancashire. Stuffed in the bottom of a drawer in the drawing office, I discovered an amazing and forgotten collection of photographs showing aircraft recognition models; submarine battery boxes and Horsa glider fuselage sections. This was the wartime output of the factory and a foreman further enlightened me when he told me the completed glider parts used to be towed through the streets to nearby Salmesbury aerodrome for assembly and flight testing. Some of the photos of Horsas in action were 16" x 20" prints marked "Ministry of Supply" and bore simple captions on the reverse. I'm guessing these were a kind of PR "thank you" to the company in recognition of its war work. I was told the photos would probably be thrown out before long so I kept them until deciding they were deserving of a wider audience and I donated them to Museum of Army flying some ten years ago. As a footnote, my late father used to be a church organ builder who used his woodworking skills at A V Roe making timber components for Lancaster bombers.
Thanks for the info ! The amount of Horsa production documentation which has been lost/destroyed since WW2 is actually quite heartbreaking (but we never give up looking....)
...and possibly a 'red herring', a Burnley company which was involved with the Horsa was Earnshaw & Booth acting as subcontractors to Waring & Gillow whobuilt wing centre-section components.......
@@martinbull5307 Yes! Earnshaw Brothers & Booth were my employers. I never met my predecessor, a Mr Bob Graham, and only recently discovered he'd had been a draughtsman at A V Roe during the war.
I also managed to rescue some bits of recognition models from EB & B that were about to way their way up the factory chimney! Close up they were crude, but good enough for training purposes when silhouetted against a wall.
When I was working on my thesis I received some useful information in a hand written note from author, C Martin Sharp, who was deHavilland's archivist at the time, if I remember correctly.
The contribution the furniture industry (and let's not forget the piano makers) made to WW2 is not always fully recognised, in my opinion. They rose to the challenge - anything from tent pegs to brilliantly conceived Mosquito.
@@martinbull5307 Yes! I was employed by the company that took over Earnshaw Brothers & Booth. I have seen some photos of Waring and Gillow's
Lancaster factory (location, not aeroplane!) that shows what look like Horsa outer wing sections having camouflage paint applied. Someone with greater knowledge than me would need to verify this.
1:28
My dad as a draughtsman and a pattern maker worked on the builds of the Hengist and Horsa gliders at Mather and Platts before he volunteered for the Royal Engineers. Regards
No flight pay, no jump pay but never a dull moment - Glider motto
Airmen at Arnhem is a great book of these and others in use. With eye witness accounts.
I learned to fly on gliders with the ATC, and later went to the Para Depot at Aldershot, and while there went to see the Horsa on display, the Army WO saw me and asked what i was doing
I said "I trained to fly gliders and was curious, you could get three of our gliders on each wing of these"
He said my father flew them on D-Day, Arnhem and in Varsity across the Rhine and luckily managed to get back alive each time. Amazing.
One point that seems to be missed here is that there were RAF pilots who became Glider pilots who were posted to fly these due to heavy losses, and then fought with great courage on the ground as infantry, a lot were killed and should be remembered. It was not just Glider Pilot Regiment Army personnel.
There were two grades of Glider Pilot one with wings and a G with crown, and the second pilot with wings and a G in a circle, the former were usually Staff Sergeants and the latter Sergeants. Some were officers.
The lead Glider pilot on the Operation in Norway that led to Heroes of Telemark was an RAF Officer who trained on Gliders, gave up his rank, and flew as a Staff Sergeant in the GP Regiment.
Greetings from Australia. You blokes have done a bloody absolutely magnificent job. Well done. I like the kit like the thermos flask, bergan rucksack and first aid kit. Really enjoyed learning about the Horsa glider, the people who built them and the tough lads who fight from them. Lest we forget those courageous men. Nothing like a bit of fair dinkum British ingenuity huh.
Thanks 👍
My Uncle was first a Glider paratrooper. I believe in Waco CG-4A Gliders. Because he told me after a few Practice assault landings. He said was too dangerous landing . Tree stumps would rip the floor out! So He volunteered for 11 ABN DIV. and was accepted. He went on to fight in the Philippines, but never made a combat jump.
I am humbled to see the skill and courage of that generation. I remember my surprise at finding that the pop star Hurricane Smith was a former Beatles engineer and Pink Floyd producer who had been a glider pilot in WW2. We are forever in their debt.
What a great source of infotmation, thank you for putting this together.
I had an uncle who trained to be a glider pilot and would have flown an Airspeed Horsa however I gather that they were all loaded in and were about to take off when the tug aircraft failed so they never joined the operation, my uncle said he was one of a very few pilots who actually survived
What a fascinating mini-documentary, all my questions were asked and answered, and this made me want to see the surviving pieces of airframe ‘in the flesh’ - thank you for relating this important part of Britain’s aeronautical contributions to our fight against fascism, in which so many sacrifices were made for us and for our children - a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all involved in this restoration.
For me, Victor Miller's Nothing is Impossible is a really interesting glider pilot's account of participation in Sicily, Arnhem and the Rhine crossing.
A Riverbank California resident recently passed at age 102. In WW2 he flew a glider into and one of the few to fly out on the airborn attack at Arnhem Netherlands. Heard the story a dozens times , along with his exploits afterwards training navigators for bombers. Apparently a plane carrying newly trained navigators crashed and killed all aboard.
His last 6 months of his tour consisted of cruising over liberated Europe flying a DC-3 with navigation trainees.
In hind sight a humble man on the outside was one tough son a gun though and though when it mattered.
Much of the Glider Pilot Regiment was recruited from experienced Army NCOs, of which there was a good supply by 1942. They were a useful stiffener for the troops they landed; in contrast, US Army glider pilots had only basic training and often had to be guarded by the troops after their landing.
US Army glider pilots needed to stay with their bird unless it was wrecked. As those gliders were removed by a bomber towing a cable with a hook on the end. I met one of the pilots at a glider field in Michigan. He few three times during the Normandy landings. Later he looked up the men he transported, and discovered that the only one of them survived the war the soldier who was injured on the landing that totaled his glider. All the rest had died before Germany surrendered...
When I was at Secondary School in the mid 70s our Technical Drawing Teacher (Mr Mead), had been a draftsman at Airspeed in Christchurch where he'd been involved in working on the design of the de Haviland Comet's nose which was tested on a Horsa Glider.
Thank you for that ! The Museum archive contains a set of professional photographs of the Comet nose trials taken in snowy weather at Radlett.
@@martinbull5307 Thanks for that Martin, I'd love to visit but a bit unsure if the museum is within the ULEZ are or not. If it is where's the best place to park?
@@MrUxbridge The Museum is located adjacent to J22 of the M25 and is (at present) outside the ULEZ.
In 1976 I met one of the test pilots for the Horsa.
He did have some interesting stories about the Horsa.
I've only been to the museum twice as I live 200 miles away, it's a fine place to visit with great exhibits and staff.
Very interesting video about the Horsa with all sorts of stuff I didn't know. Thanks.
Thanks Airspeed, Thanks de Havilland, Thanks to those who served! Thanks for the vid!
Thank you so much. I would really have much more of the glider, D-day and other moments of its great moments, like the assault in "one bridge too far". Being the next to clean parashute landing delivering heavy equipment etc. it is a marvel (constructed in the 30-sh)
Beautiful strong capable plywood fuselage!!!
Really enjoyed listening to that, and excellent work on the restoration! Worth mentioning that although one operational flight was as much as could be expected, the gliders would have been used for training as well. I've never seen any records of glider "flight hours" though 😊. And we should note that after the GPR losses at Arnhem, a lot of RAF pilots were recruited for Varsity 👍. Nice to see the Hamilcar photo too. I've never been to the Museum but I feel a visit coming on. Thanks again.
Glad you enjoyed it. You're quite right about the RAF pilots - GPR losses after Arnhem were so high and at the same time, large numbers of qualified pilots were coming from the Training Schemes for the RAF. I do sympathize with the RAF pilots who all hoped to be flying Spitfires or Lancasters only to be told they'd be moving to gliders.......
Neville Shute Norway seems to have been a bit of a renaissance man. Apart from his novels such as ‘On The Beach’ he worked with Barnes Wallis ( he of Bouncing bomb, Tallboy and Grand Slam fame) on the geodesic metal frame fuselage of the Vickers Armstrong Wellington bomber. I am impressed that the Mk2 glider had a hinged front end that allowed all the flight controls to swing out of the way to allow access. This was no small feat of engineering for a ‘use once’ aircraft.
Thank you. Both the narration and viewers’ comments are highly informative.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent video, I enjoyed seeing the Horsa when I visited the DH museum a few years ago , but listening to an expert always adds so much to the experience . It was a wonderful piece of kit. Thank you for this video.
Thank you
The greatest sacrifice by the greatest generation.
My Uncle fought the Nazi's in Sicily & Italy with General Patton, before D-Day, and was at the Battle of the Bulge, and remarkably survived the War. He never talked about his experiences... But always attended the 7th Army Reunions, and is interned at the National Cemetery in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Another uncle was a top turret gunner in a B-17, in the Air Force, and also survived the War, and he also never talked about it. Today, on June 6, 2024, we honor all those who served in WWII, and Bless All The Allied Servicemen from so many countries, that joined forces to defeat the Axis tyranny threat.
A different time of patriotism and loyalty, when men were men, and boys came back as men. Thank you.
Patriotism, the last refuge of the scoundrel.
If the boys came back.
Having grown up with many adults who'd experienced WWll around me, including a few who were on the Normandy beaches, I take exception to having one machine labelled THE Hero of D-Day!
Actually a fair point - in retrospect 'A' Hero may have been better ( personally,I think the term 'Hero' is rather over-used these days). We certainly meant no offence.
I really enjoyed this, thank you.
Fantastic piece of history. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you for this Professional...and more...
Neville Shute worked with De Havilland after WW1 and later with Barnes Wallace on the R100, not least in structural analysis.
Fascinating video, thank you
Terrific stuff! 👍 Thank you.
What a fascinating and very interesting video. Thanks
Great history story, thanks for sharing! 🤔👍
Our pleasure!
Amazing...
Excellent documentary, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great and very interesting video on one of your fine exhibits nice to learn about the Horsa glider had a good look at it the couple of times I've visited the museum thought it to be very workman like and a great addition to the museum
Excellent video.
Thanks! "I Knever Knew" these had boosted controls and "I'm in" the trades.
Hope we get to see one of those cool folding scooter/motorcycle Pra deals?
Willing to bet some of this team was with Hughs on the Hurckules?
My first grade teacher survive Bastogne. abother buddy repaired armor and removed bodies after Battle in the Bulge and SS Massacre's. he was a bee keeper.
Thanks :)
One thing they missed is that the nose section of the Comet airliner was fitted to a Horsa at Hatfield and flown under tow to check the crew visibilty and rain dispersion of the nose design.
Very informative! Thank you.
You're welcome!
Excellent! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
My dad used to tow these behind the Halifax he flew in during WWII.
Fantastic film!
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks.
A very interesting and informative video. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video as usual 👍
Very informative and well presented video.
My late wife's first husband was a glider pilot landed at the Orme bridge at 6 minutes into 6 June, 1944 he went through the perspex cockpit. Probably the first on the soil.
An interesting point we only found out recently is that they had to fly in a figure eight to slow down enough for a safe landing they landed up to bank by the bridge.
Staff Sgt 's John Ainsworth and John Wallwork both men survive the war , John Ainsworth died in 1968 of a brain tumor in Dublin.
It was one of the few times that an arrestor parachute was used on the Horsas, and overloading was possibly one reason for the heavy landing. Wallwork & Ainsworth (still strapped to their seats ) were both injured . Reportedly , before the flight they both fully expected to suffer broken legs. Jim Wallwork was awarded a well-deserved DFM.
I understand that Horsa Gluders were also made at Colwick, Nottingham by furniture manufacturer Lawrence's at their site on Vale Road, served by adjacent rail sidings, now a housing estate.
Yes that's right. Wm Lawrence made large quantities of Horsa flaps & ailerons & in turn subcontracted to Buoyant Upholstery (Sandiacre), Stag Cabinet Co (Nottingham) & Loughborough Cabinet Co (info from David J Smith in the dH Museum archive ).
Extremely interesting.
Hope the museum gets a presence on Instagram. Exciting.
Check out dehavillandaircraft on insta
Wow, very interesting indeed.
that was fascinating!
Interesting video - a lot of accounts say that the glider pilots on D-Day were under strict orders to get themselves back to England as soon as possible as they were needed to fly in cargo gliders and were too few and too valuable to engage in fighting on the battlefield.
As to the durability of the Horsa, S/Sgt Jim Wallwork DFM (pilot of No1 glider at Pegasus Bridge but he also flew gilders on Operations Husky/Ladbrook, Market Garden and Varsity) recalled that they carried out no less than 42 practice runs for "Deadstick" and only lost one glider in training out of their complement of 7 (six for the operation and one "spare").
I wonder if any of the aircraft carried a CC41 stamp? 😉
Hello, do you have a source, preferably something on the internut, for practice runs for Deadstick ?
Ta
@@nickdanger3802 YT keeps wiping out my responses!
Google
S/SGT JIM WALLWORK DFM, PILOT OF THE FIRST GLIDER TO LAND AT PEGASUS BRIDGE, RECOUNTS HIS PERSONAL STORY
and you should get it!
@@nickdanger3802 Google Jim Wallwork, Operation Deadstick, in his own words.
Years ago I read a great book about gliders in WW2. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called. It mentions why they were not used earlier or later than WW2. Also other uses. After D Day, as land was being captured, refuelling and rearming airfields were set up. DC3 Dacota gliders were used. Their wings full of fuel, they carried ammo as well as the oils, greases, and tools required to turn fighter aircraft around and back into the battle without the need to fly back to England.
The Gliders to Pegagus and Horsa Bridgess was from RAF Aylesbury and the infantry unit was in of 2bt Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Not from RAF Tarrant Rushton as generally recorded then?
My father, Roger Cole helped make the replica horsa at RAF Shawbury over many years, I believe a Waco was also built.. It was moved to RAF Cosford..... With no interest from any museum in the UK it went to a Dutch display..... Few today are aware of Horsa history....
The AGT Horsa from Shawbury is now safely on display at the Oorlogsmuseum at Overloon in the Netherlands. We're very aware of the almost-forgotten Horsa story but we ( and others ) are trying to move the dial.......
Fascinating. Was the Horsa or any other glider used after WWII?
5:55 The model in thumbnail.
I have a memory of climbing the wing of a replica of a Horsa glider after it was used to shoot the movie s Bridge too far. I must've been 7 or so .
Good video, just one minor correction, the Army unit at Arnhem with the highest percentage of losses were the RASC Air Despatchers.
We can only offer the defence that we did say 'Regiment' with the highest percentage losses.......
Very impressive a glider. Designed without the us of a computer.
I recall my father telling me he saw gliders with the spars glowing white hot on the ground, he assumed (i think) they had crashed, but i guess it looks like the self destruct was used sometimes?
15:45 A few times mentioned that the Horsa was a one flight aircraft. Not entirly true. The Glider pilot regiment and RAF had devised a methode to recover gliders. This was done a few times, also after an operation RAF teams went to the landingzones to recover and repair useable gliders also parts of gliders. Some were transported by aircraft trailers some were flown back by the glider snatch methode. They made a rope loop attached this to the glider and hung this loop between 2 poles. A transport aircraft would fly low and with a hook would snatch the loop. A glider pilot claimed you could hold a cup of thee and you would not spoil a drop. There is footage on youtube of Waco CG4 glider recovery using this methode. Thus some Arnhem used gliders could have been used in Normandy. Probably some Horsa gliders that were used in Sicily were reused in Operation Dragoon, airborne invasion in Southern France. I know and have seen Photograhs of Hamilcar gliders being transported back by RAF trailers after operation Varsity.
It's documented that no Horsas were recovered from Normandy and certainly none from behind enemy lines at Arnhem. None from Sicily and only a small number of Horsas in pieces b yroad (not 'snatched' )from Varsity. The Waco (at half the weight of a Horsa ) was a different story which was outside the scope of our video.For anyone seriously interested, we recommend the article 'Austere Recovery Of Cargo Gliders' by Thoms/Berry/Jett available online from National Defense University, INSS.
@@martinbull5307 Early 1944 the British started investigations to see if it would be possible to glider snatch Horsas with a dakota.The aircraft came in at150knots enabeling the Horsa to take of the groundin about 70 yards at about 110knots. (The Eagle magazine of the glider pilot regimental association, august 2003) The American National WWII Glider Pilots Association shows a photo and info about the Horsa glider snatch.
An article in The Eagle, December 1985, written by Glider pilot Capt. Carn MC about how he was involved in the Horsa glider recovery at Poitiers France together with Captain Appleyard , November 1944. This glider was on a grass strip and guarded by the French. A Dakota landed the pilots it turned out the glider was in perfect condition. Although its wheels sunken in the mud. The next morning the French provide 2 oxen to pull it out of the mud and into start position. Two days later the dakota returned snatched it up, 3 hours later the glider released and landed at Netheravon.
Photo CL796, to be found at the IWM, shows an RAF carpenter of the Heavy glider servicing unit, repairing a Horsa centre fuselage bulkhead in a field near St Aubin- dÁrquenay Normandy. This is one out of a serie of photographs taken by RAF photographer Fg Off Clark Photo. CL793 shows about 6 men working on a Horsa in the same field.
Indeed after Arnhem nearly all glider were burned by the Germans. Only 1 complete survived. This was towed by a farmer to his farm for his children to play with. Although it also got burned, the farmer claims by jealous neighbours.
I do not know of any Horsa glider being recovered after Varsity, Photos of the Hamilcar recovery can bee seen on the Hamilcar co uk website.
Hi. Terrific presentation. I will add a correction. A WW2 Jeep weighed just shy of 2,500 lbs. It was designed as a quarter ton vehicle. As opposed to a half ton or three quarter or one ton vehicle. US specification ton,2000 lbs. Quarter ton is 500 lbs. So the speaker ,referring to the Jeep,yes it was a quarter ton vehicle.
Given how overloaded most Jeeps would have been in service,a testament to its design.
Given the flight stresses,a testament to the designers of the Horsa glider for coming up with sufficient flexibility,but look at all the extra doohickies that must be incorporated into the whole machine to come up with that flexibility.
Again, terrific that there is this one remaining display left.
thanks for your feedback !
My father was a WWII glider pilot, flew into Sicily and survived to be sent to India to train US and British glider pilots in preparation for an anticipated glider invasion of Japan from China. He told me that the gliders were always, always, overloaded, even when flying infantrymen. The soldiers' motto was, "You can never have too much ammunition", so they always carried as many rounds as they could. He stated that every soldier that flew into combat was probably carrying at least 60lb more stuff than they were rated to weigh. He flew the Horsa and the American Waco CG4 'Hadrian' extensively while instruction new British and American army airmen.
My Grandfather was killed in 43 flying Mosquitoes with RCAF 410 sqn. I heard a pilot talking about making a dead stick landing. I said engineless landings are no big deal. I told him not only have I had many engineless landings, but in fact _all_ my landings were engineless. In context of course, it's obvious. I flew gliders. I'm told that the first two Allied servicemen on the ground in June 6 1944 was Staff Sergeant James Harley Wallwork DFM and his co-pilot John Ainsworth at Pegasus Bridge. Neither were aware of it however as they had been thrown headfirst through the Horsa's windshield and knocked unconscious.
The V-22 tilt-rotor still uses a nitrogen bottle for emergency release of it's landing gear.
@17:41 I wonder if the "Angles with Dirty Faces" was references to the local whores the troops visited 😝 And Joyce was a later addition.
I am very glad this original version has been preserved; it might be needed again in the future as a starting point to begin production again.
How bout that Mosquito in the morning background..?
This video was really interesting. 100%
👍
Were they used in the Burma ?
Elegant solution to the problem. How many were recovered from Normandy to serve in Holland and Germany?
A question we're often asked ! The answer is simple : no Horsas were recovered at all from Normandy (mostly damaged by enemy shelling or broken up by the British army for use as slit-trench shelters ) and none from Arnhem ( they all ended up behind enemy lines and were burnt bythe Germans). Some were recovered in pieces from 'Operation Varsity 'by road to Continental airfields. At 3.5 tons unloaded the stresses of 'snatch'recovery were too high. US Forces recovered a number of Waco gliders,but at1.5 tons, that's another story.......
@@martinbull5307 Thanks for the answer. I knew that WACOs were recovered but hadn't realised the weight difference. I won't ask about Hamilcar......
@@jabonorte Yes,the Hamilcar weighed over 8 tons (without tank..). Again, none survive but there's a good exhibit at the Army Flying Museum at Middle Wallop. (A photo did sneak in to the video )
Home built aircraft, such as the Pietenpol, use high grade, Canadian spruce plywood to this day.
My dad's brother flew those during WW2
Says they were one way, but I believe I heard there was a unit to recover them. Also saw something about maybe gliders being brought back commerically.
The Unit was #1 HGSU (Heavy Glider Servicing Unit ) who salvaged parts from the damaged Horsas in Normandy. One completed Horsa was deemed fir to fly but we have yet to find documentation proving that it did come back. However, a large number of cockpit instruments were successfully salvaged.
Not sure that the commentary about the role of glider pilots after landing is totally accurate. Whilst they definitely did become soldiers the moment the glider had been unloaded, they were not properly tasked with a particular job until the crossing of the Rhine. The result of this is that many of them came down with shell shock in the earlier landings - particularly many of those that got out of Arnhem - because they spent most of their time sitting in a trench being shelled whilst waiting for someone to find them a job. Therefore in the last air-landing they were all given a particular task and told to stay with the troops that they had carried until ordered to the rear. Victor Miller's book demonstrates this experience in action (he was trained as a sniper for the Rhine crossing) - he was at the landings in Sicily, Arnhem and the Rhine crossing.
I also heard the overall description of why this change was made from someone who was based at an airfield used by glider pilots in the later stages of WW2.
For 'Varsity' the role changed due to the fact that many more RAF pilots flew gliders (due to the heavy GPR losses at Arnhem ) and these were lacking in fighting training. Additionally, there was less time to wait in slit trenches ; Allied forces were about 5 miles away as compared to 60 at Arnhem. Alan Cooper's 'Wot ? No Engines....' is a good source for this. Sadly, a 20-minute video format simply didn't give us the opportunity to address every aspect of glider operations in detail. Maybe next time......
The rope did not bear the 7 ton weight of the glider, rather the wings did that. The rope bore the drag, around 1 ton.
I'm trying to imagine shipments of plywood and hardwood parts coming from Canada. You can bet those shiploads were valuable.
They were indeed. Some of the cargoes were offloaded at the Surrey Docks, then into lighters across the Thames to the River Lea Navigation where they were made into ply sheets at FlexoPlywoods in Edmonton. From there it was a short journey up the Lea to Harris Lebus.
The was a wartime poster issued by the government that encouraged us to, "Save Timber And Hammer The Hun!" Graphic examples reinforced the message: "One standard (a unit of measurement used in the timber industry) occupies the same cargo space as enough petrol to fly a Stirling to Cologne and back".
Some glider pilots were RAF, my father being one. I don't know though whether any RAF pilots actually took part in operations - my father was still training when Market Garden took place and by the time of Varsity he was in India preparing to fly gliders with 673 Squadron - that plan however came to nothing.
RAF pilots certainly flew gliders on 'Varsity'. There's a very good book about this : 'Wot! No Engines..?' by Alan Cooper.
A number of gliders folded up in mid-flight and crashed long before they reached their objectives in Operation Market Garden. Some of the men assigned to assemble them were drunk on the job.
Thanks for that- it would help if you could point us to any documentation supporting this....?
I just wonder if after the war if some of the designers went on to the railways. The front of the horsa is very reminiscent of some DMU/ rail cars that were used in the 50's..............🤔
Friend of my mothers said he was in a Horsa glider on Normandy invasion he told me as a 8 year old boy in 1968 that they had smashed a window in the glider to shoot with their rifles at german stuka aircraft shooting @ them he was a german Jew who had escaped to britain all his family were killed in holocaust he had worked as a 15vyear old boy cleaning out locomptive fire boxs till he escaped to Holland and then Britain
My Father in Law was in the RAF and seconded to AAF in India where he worked on gliders and to my knowledge the only people using them where the Chindits.If anyone knows anything about the AAF in India please point me in that direction.
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I would have thought a major reason for the De Havilland museum having it would be that it was a second ‘wooden wonder’?
Yes, there's a connection there - but the main reason is that the 4 Horsa prototypes were designed and built 20 yards from where the exhibit now sits......
@@martinbull5307 it was mentioned as a gentle critique of the video’s opening ‘definitive’ paragraph. It is addressed fourteen minutes later when the subcontracting to North London cabinet makers is introduced and the Canadian supply chain. Fitness for purpose is the key.
Brad Pit should make a Glider WW II Movie
any books on the glider-pilots?
We recommend : The Wings Of Pegasus by Brig. G. Chatterton , The History Of The Glider Pilot Regiment by C. Smith and (especially) Glider Pilots At Arnhem by M. Peters & L. Buist. All currently OOP but can be found on e-bay etc.
@@martinbull5307thanks
I wonder if they have the original wings as well ?
We wish ! If anyone knows of a pair lying around, we'd love to know....seriously, we're not aware of a complete,original set surviving (perhaps not surprising due to size - 88ft span - and woodframe/fabric construction). We do have an (enormous) original elevator on display which gives a good idea of the type of construction.
I’m asking myself were they over engineered? The prototype they used for testing flew 87 takeoffs and landings.
Reasonable question.....it was the prototype of something that had never been built before in that size or weight so some 'leeway' may have been built in (which came in handy later when jeeps,guns and trailers came into the equation). Many adjustments were made during the test flying before production (ie DG597 had a one-piece centre fuselage ; Harris Lebus later devised the 6-barrel method of construction ). Our research into the documentation is ongoing.......
The worlds greatest generation built these
I think you are right. On both sides of the war there were brave men an women and inventive designers and engineers.
I wonder if Harris Lebus had anything to do with Mosquito production
Um, sShould have waited 10 seconds before posting question.
These gliders were actually recovered and reused during the war.
But no Horsas, according to the documentation we've accessed in the NA at Kew......
@@martinbull5307 Alright, I didn't knew that. I have seen pictures of Scammell Pioneer trucks recovering gliders. I assumed they did that with all types of gliders.