These innovative aircraft were built by Airspeed and General Aircraft and made a significant contribution to D-Day and operations behind enemy lines. Spurred on by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who, after witnessing the lightning ‘Blitzkrieg’ advances made by German airborne troops in the initial months of the Second World War, saw the need for the allies to develop equally adept airborne forces and tactics, specifications were issued by the War Office for military gliders that could rapidly deliver soldiers, supplies and equipment to the battlefield in large numbers.
The result was the design, development and construction of a number of military glider types, with two types playing important roles in D-Day. The Airspeed Horsa was able to carry 30 fully equipped troops and the General Aircraft Hamilcar, a heavy glider, transported light tanks, transport and equipment. A third, the General Aircraft Hotspur, became the basic trainer for the glider schools that were formed in the years leading up to D-Day, performing a vital, and somewhat unsung role, in the D-Day story. At BAE Systems, we are proud that all three aircraft are part of our heritage.
Perhaps the most famous event involving gliders during the D-Day campaign was the use of six Horsas to deliver a small force of troops from the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry into enemy held territory in Normandy. Just after midnight on 6 June 1944, this small force landed on French soil, the first Allied troops to do so as part of the D-Day operation. Their task was to secure two bridges as part of a wider airborne operation, known as Operation Tonga, involving Allied airborne troops – with an overall aim to seal the area immediately around the invasion beaches to prevent or delay German reinforcements arriving to the area when the landings began. That the troops were successful in capturing the two bridges owes much to the Horsas themselves and the Glider Regiment pilots who operated them – allowing most of the force to be delivered almost on top of the targets, taking the German troops stationed there completely unawares.
It’s no surprise that one of the bridges is now known as Pegasus Bridge after the shoulder emblem worn by the British airborne forces, while the other is called Horsa Bridge in recognition of the Horsa gliders that carried the troops. Very few examples of these gliders now survive, but one that is currently undergoing restoration work is a Horsa at the de Havilland Museum at Salisbury Hall – where the Horsa glider was originally designed and developed. We’re pleased to be contributing funding for restoration work currently underway to increase visitor access to the Horsa cockpit, ensuring that current and future generations can continue to learn about the aircraft and the people who designed, manufactured and flew in it.