Background

In the early stages of the Second World War, the German military demonstrated its role as a pioneer in the deployment of airborne operations. These forces had conducted several successful operations during the Battle of France in 1940, including the use of glider-borne troops during the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael.^[1][2] Having been impressed by the performance and capabilities of German airborne operations, the Allied governments decided that they would also form their own airborne formation.^[3] As a result of this decision, the creation of two British airborne divisions came about, as well as a number of smaller-scale units.^[4] On 22 June 1940, the British airborne establishment was formally initiated when the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office in a memorandum to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops.^[5] During 1941, the United States also embarked on a similar programme.^[6]

While the equipment for the airborne forces was under development, it was decided by War Office officials that gliders would be an integral component of such a force. It was initially thought that gliders would be used to deliver paratroops. Transport aircraft would both carry paratroops and tow a glider with a second party of troops. The idea arose as a response to the severe shortage of transport aircraft in the early part of the war, as in this way the number of troops that could be dropped in an operation by a given number of transport aircraft would be greatly enhanced. The empty gliders would be towed back to base.^[7]

However, thinking eventually evolved into using gliders to land both troops and heavy equipment in the theatre of operations.^[8] The first glider produced was the General Aircraft Hotspur, which first flew on 5 November 1940.^[9] Several problems were found with the Hotspur's design, the worst being its inability to carry sufficient troops. It was believed that airborne troops should be landed in larger groups than the eight that the Hotspur could carry, and that the number of towplanes required would prove to be impractical. There were also concerns that the gliders would have to be towed in tandem, which would be extremely hazardous at night or through cloud.^[10]

Accordingly, it was decided that the Hotspur would be used only as a training glider,^[11] while British industry continued with the development of several different gliders, including a larger 25-seater assault glider, which would become the Airspeed Horsa.^[10] On 12 October 1940, Specification X.26/40 was issued, calling for a large assault glider.^[12] The specification required the use of wood where possible to conserve critical supplies of metal.^[13] Airspeed would designate the Horsa the AS.51.^[12]

.. it must have been the most wooden aircraft ever built. Even the controls in the cockpit were masterpieces of the woodworker's skill.

— H. A. Taylor, Mrazek 1977, pg. 70

Airspeed assembled a team headed by aircraft designer Hessell Tiltman^[13][14] whose efforts began at the de Havilland technical school at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, before relocating to Salisbury Hall, London Colney.^[13] The Horsa was to have had paratroopers jumping from doors on either side of the fuselage, while the glider remained under tow, while combat landings would have been secondary. The widely set doors enabled simultaneous egress, as well as for troops to fire on nearby enemies while still in the glider. For this they were provided with several firing points in the roof and tail.^[13] That idea was dropped, and it was decided to just have the glider land troops.^[15]

Production

In February 1941, an initial order was placed for 400 gliders and it was estimated that Airspeed should be able to complete the order by July 1942.^[16] Early on, inquiries were made into the possibility of a further 400 being manufactured in India for the use of Indian airborne forces, however, this plan was abandoned when it was discovered the required wood would have to be imported into India.^[16] Seven prototypes were ordered with Fairey Aircraft producing the first two prototypes, which were used for flight testing, while Airspeed completed the remaining prototypes that were used in equipment and loading tests.^[6][13] On 12 September 1941, the first prototype (DG597), towed by an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley,^[17] made its first flight,^[18] 11 months after the specification was issued.^[15]

Paratroops leaving an Airspeed Horsa trainer of No 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit at Brize Norton, 4 June 1943.^{[N 1]}

As specified in Specification X3/41, 200 AS 52 Horsas were also to be constructed to carry bombs. A central fuselage bomb bay holding four 2,000 lb (910 kg) or two 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) bombs was fitted into the standard Horsa fuselage. The concept of towing bombs was dropped as other bombers became available, resulting in the order for the AS 52 being cancelled.^[18]

In early 1942, production of the Horsa commenced; by May 1942, some 2,345 had been ordered by the Army for use in future airborne operations.^[15] The glider was designed from the outset to be constructed using components and a series of 30 sub-assemblies required to complete the manufacturing process.^[6] Manufacturing was intended primarily to use woodcrafting facilities, which were not needed for more urgent aviation production, and as a result, production was spread across separate factories, which consequently limited the likely loss in case of German attack.^[10] The designer A. H. Tiltman said that the Horsa "went from the drawing board to the air in ten months, which was not too bad considering the drawings had to be made suitable for the furniture trade who were responsible for all production."

The initial 695 gliders were manufactured at Airspeed's factory in Christchurch, Hampshire;^[17] production of the remainder was performed by an assortment of subcontractors.^[15] These included Austin Motors, and a production group coordinated by the furniture manufacturers Harris Lebus.^[19] These same contractors would produce an improved model of the glider, designated as the AS.53 Horsa Mk II, while none would be manufactured by Airspeed themselves. The Horsa Mk II had been specifically designed for the carriage of vehicles, featuring a reinforced floor and a hinged nose section in order to accommodate such use. Other changes included the adoption of a twin nosewheel arrangement, a modified tow attachment and an increased all-up weight of 15,750 lb (7,140 kg).

As a consequence of the majority of subcontractors not having available airfields from which to deliver the gliders, they sent the sub-assemblies to RAF Maintenance Units (MUs), who would perform final assembly themselves; this process has been attributed as being responsible for the widely varying production numbers recorded of the type.^[15] Between 3,655 and 3,799 Horsas had been completed by the time production ended.^{[N 2]}

Wartime use

Photograph taken from a Horsa cockpit while under tow by a Short Stirling during Operation Varsity, 24 March 1945

Troops seated in a Horsa, prior to take-off

The Horsa was first deployed operationally on the night of 19/20 November 1942 in the unsuccessful attack on the German Heavy Water Plant at Rjukan in Norway (Operation Freshman). The two Horsa gliders, each carrying 15 sappers, and one of the Halifax tug aircraft crashed in Norway due to bad weather. All 23 survivors from the glider crashes were executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler, in a flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention which protects prisoners of war (POWs) from summary execution.^[17]

In preparation for further operational deployment, 30 Horsa gliders were air-towed by Halifax bombers from bases in Great Britain to North Africa; three of these aircraft were lost in transit.^[20] On 10 July 1943, the 27 surviving Horsas were used during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, which was the type's first large-scale operation.^[2]

The Horsa was deployed in large numbers (estimated to be in excess of 250) during Battle of Normandy; specifically in the British Operation Tonga and the American airborne landings in Normandy. The first unit to land in France during the battle was a British coup-de-main force, carried by six Horsas, that captured the Caen canal and Orne river bridges. During the opening phase of the operation, 320 Horsas were used to perform the first lift of the 6th Airborne Division, while a further 296 Horsas participated in the second lift.^[17] Large numbers of both American and British forces were deployed using the Horsa during the opening phase of the battle.^[28]

The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) acquired approximately 400 Horsas in a form of reverse Lend-Lease.^[25][28] Capable of accommodating up to 30 troop seats,^[25] the Horsa was much bigger than the 13-troop American Waco CG-4A (known as the Hadrian by the British), and thus offered greater carrying capacity.^[28][2]

In British service, the Horsa was a major component during several major offensives that followed the successful Normandy landings, such as Operation Dragoon and Operation Market Garden, both in 1944, and Operation Varsity during March 1945. The latter was the final operation for the Horsa, and had involved a force of 440 gliders carrying soldiers of the 6th Airborne Division across the Rhine.^[17][2]

Horsas on the ground at Arnhem

Operationally, the Horsa was towed by various aircraft: four-engined heavy bombers displaced from operational service such as the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax, the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley twin-engined bombers, as well as the US Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Dakota (not as often due to the weight of the glider).^[29] In Operation Market Garden, however, a total of 1,336 C-47s along with 340 Stirlings were employed to tow 1,205 gliders,^[30]) and Curtiss C-46 Commando. The gliders were towed with a harness that attached to points on both wings and also carried an intercom between tug and glider. The glider pilots were usually from the Glider Pilot Regiment, part of the Army Air Corps (AAC), although Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots were used on occasion.^[20]

Postwar use

A small number of Horsa Mk IIs were obtained by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and participated in evaluation trials which were held at CFB Gimli, Manitoba. Three of these survivors were purchased as surplus in the early 1950s and ended up in Matlock, Manitoba, where they were scrapped.^[31] India also acquired a small number of Horsas for their own evaluation purposes.^[29] Due to low surplus prices in the UK, many were bought and converted to travel trailers and vacation cottages.^[32]

On 5 June 2004, as part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of D-Day, Prince Charles unveiled a replica Horsa on the site of the first landing at Pegasus Bridge and talked with Jim Wallwork, the first pilot to land the aircraft on French soil during D-Day.

Ten replicas were built for the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, mainly for static display and set-dressing, although one Horsa was modified to make a brief "hop" towed behind a Dakota at Deelen, the Netherlands. During the production, seven of the replicas were damaged in a wind storm; the contingent were repaired in time for use in the film. Five of the Horsa "film models" were destroyed during filming with the survivors sold as a lot to John Hawke, aircraft collector in the UK.^[33] Another mock-up for close-up work came into the possession of the Ridgeway Military & Aviation Research Group and is stored at Welford, Berkshire.^[34]

Notes

Citations

Bibliography