Jet Age Horsa Glider Project 2.37

Airspeed Horsa: Gloucestershire connections

Designed by Airspeed Ltd, Horsa gliders were made in sections across the country by furniture manufacturers and cabinetmaking firms. These included HH Martyn Ltd at Sunningend in Cheltenham, where Horsa cockpits were built in 1943-44.

HH Martyn was instrumental in setting up the Gloucestershire (later Gloster) Aircraft Company in 1917 and Gloster aircraft were produced in Martynʼs Sunningend Works until the late 1920s. Horsa assembly centres included RAF Aston Down in (a training airfield from 1938 to 1945), where the gliders were also flight tested and stored in preparation for the invasion of Europe.

Glider pilot training

The former RAF Stoke Orchard, now occupied in part by Cory Environmental Resource Managementʼs Wingmoor site, was mainly used for glider training and development between 1941 and 1945. No 3 Glider Training School was formed there in August 1942 and training was carried out on Horsa and Hotspur gliders. RAF Northleach acted as Reserve Landing Ground in support of No. 3 GTS at Stoke Orchard from November 1942.


Operational flying

Both RAF Down Ampney and RAF Fairford were embarkation airfields for the invasion of Europe. Down Ampney was used for Dakota and Horsa glider training and saw Horsas towed by Dakotas to Normandy and the D-Day landings. On 17 September 1944, 49 Dakotas with their Horsa gliders took part in Operation Market Garden, intended to secure the bridge at Arnhem.

Martin R Bartram records in Gloucestershireʼs Aviation Heritage and Jet Age Museum, published by Jet Age in 1998, that Fairford was used from 1944 by Stirling glider-towing aircraft and Horsa gliders of 190 and 620 Squadrons.

On 5 June 1944 nearly 900 men of the 6th Airborne Division took off from Fairford for the River Orne as part of the D-Day invasion. The following day 36 Stirlings with Horsa gliders took off as part of Operation Mallard. Sorties on behalf of the Special Operations Executive and Special Air Service were carried out in July and August 1944. In September the airfield was used as part of Operation Market Garden, initially using Stirlings and Horsa gliders and later dropping supplies to the encircled troops.