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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1223.PDF
FOUR FINAL SCENES : (Top left) Glider and tug pilots being briefed. (Top right) Paratroops have the final details of the well-rehearsed scheme explained to .them. (Bottom left) A final cup of tea after camouflaging. (Bottom right) Embarkation. sion strung out "under the trees. And not a rocket left! Oil the evening of D-day a British glider train of air borne troops was put in the battle area in daylight. It illustrates the weakness of the German air defences at the time. Just imagine what would happen to a similar number of unarmed German aircraft attempting to land in this country! A.D.G.B. would destroy them utterly. The train included gliders and tugs of all sorts. Horsas and Hamilcars with Albemarles, Halifaxes and Stirlings pulling them through the air. From the angle at which the tugs were flying it was obvious that they were heavily loaded. In fact, the Stirlings appeared to be using about 15-20 degrees of flap. One Stirling was manfully trying to make it with one engine out of commission. It seemed impossible that a machine could fly at such an angle and yet remain in the air. In the end it had to give up the unequal struggle by releasing its glider an'd landing at a South Coast airfield. Seen from the ground the glider train was most impres sive. The machines were mostly flying in pairs, and the train stretched from horizon to horizon. From the air the picture was magnificent. When the head had reached its target area over France the tail was only some ten miles out to sea off the English coast. The towing air craft and the gliders were all in black camouflage and were lit by a lowering sun against a background of smoke from burning buildings spread over the day's battlefields. Sud denly the coloured parachutes carrying the special equip ment began to open until the area appeared to be full of exquisite multi-coloured poppies. Reds, greens, yellows, blacks, blues, all went down in profusion, and amongst them all the gliders made their weaving battle-descent lo come to an abrupt stop on contact with the earth. The concentration was excellent, and although many of the gliders suffered minor crashes all of them appeared to dis gorge their men shortly after coming to a standstill. As the tugs dropped their tows they turned off and made for home almost at sea level. To complete this picture, imagine 36 Marauders in sections of six, returning from a job, outlined against the huge anvil cumulus clouds which appeared to sit on the smoke of the battlefield, and above all were the Spitfires which had escorted the glider train and a few silver Lightnings which dashed about the upper sky like minnows. All the first airborne landings were made without very heavy casualties, and at this landing there appeared to be only a little self-exploding 20 mm. flak about. There may. of course, have been ordinary machine-gun fire from the ground, but this would not be visible from the air. Then' was no air interference whatsoever. The astronomical figures of sorties made over the in vasion areas by Allied airmen makes one wonder where all these aircraft are kept and maintained. A big job of work is being done oy ground crews on crowded air fields. On one airfield alone there were Spitfires by the hundred, Mosquitoes, Taylorcraft, Halifaxes, Albemarles and A/'S. Walruses. On another there were Typhoons in quantity with a number of Fleet Air Arm types. Incidentally, the Typhoon is now a completely reli able aircraft. The pilots have the utmost confidence in the strength of the airframe and the dependability of the Sabre engine.
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