The Sandbag Times Issue No:24

Our Military Roots
This was replaced in 1950 (when the original AAC
was dissolved, the GPR & Para Regt going to the
infantry) by the glider pilot’s badge, no AAC
lettering and the eagle faces to the right. The Tudor
crown was replaced by the Queen’s crown in 1953.
THE AAC AND GPR DURING WW2
The first glider to enter service was the Hotspur,
flown by a crew of 2 it could carry 8 troops or 1 ton
of cargo, it was used primarily as a trainer. The
workhorse of the GPR was to be the Horsa, flown by
a crew of 2; it could carry 28 troops and a payload of
3.5 tons. The other main glider was the Hamilcar,
which was designed to carry heavy payloads such as
the 17 or 25 pounder anti-tank gun & tractor, a light
tank or 2 bren gun carriers. The Americans also had
their own glider called to Waco, which when used by
us was referred to as the Hadrian. Flown by a crew
of 2 it could carry 15 troops. The first operational
use of gliders was in November 1942 on Op
Freshman. The operation was supposed to get 2
Horsa gliders containing 34 engineers from the 1st
Airborne Division, close to a German heavy water
production plant at Vermonk in Northern Norway,
and then destroy it. However, during bad weather 1
of the gliders crashed, killing all those on board.
The other crashed on landing and the Germans
murdered all 9 survivors some days later.
Operation Husky, July 1943
The invasion of Sicily saw 1st Airborne Division &
the GPR playing vital roles in 2 mini operations. Op
Ladbroke, involving 1200 men in 130 gliders, and
Op Fustain, with only 19 gliders, but just as vital in
that they had to capture 2 bridges. Despite bad
weather, poor navigation by the American tug pilots
& being shot at by allied ships along the route, the
division successfully achieved its objectives.
Operation Overlord, June 1944
2000 gliders were used during the D-Day landings.
The first part was during the night of the 5/6 June
when elements of the Ox & Bucks successfully
captured 2 bridges over the Orne & Caen canals –
Pegasus Bridge being one of them. A further landing
was carried out in order to capture & destroy the
artillery guns of the Merville Battery on the French
coast. Gliders also played a key role during the
invasion itself, bringing in the 1st Air landing
Brigade as well as elements of the 6th Airborne
Division and the 3rd & 5th Parachute Brigades.
Operation Market Garden, September 1944
This was an attempt to seize all the bridges over the
River Rhine in order to speed up the allied advance
into Germany. The operation was 90% successful,
only the bridge in Arnhem was not captured.
During its short life the members of the GPR were
awarded the following honours & awards: AFC – 2,
AFM – 3, BEM – 2, CGM – 1, Croix de Guerre – 4,
DCM – 3, DFC – 27, DFM – 44, DSO – 5, Dutch
Bronze Cross – 3, Dutch Bronze Lion – 2, KB – 1, KW
– 2, MBE – 7, MC – 7, MID – 64, MM – 7, OBE – 1.
After WW2 there was a streamlining of air assets
within the army. The 16 AOP Squadrons were
reduced to 4 and the GPR’s role was changed from
one which used gliders to that of light liaison. Both
the AOP and GPR were to argue that they were the
founders of post war army aviation, but in fact they
were both vital in their own way. The AOP
squadrons were in continuous service from the end
of WW2 until the re-formation of the AAC, but the
GPR also had its fair share of operational service all
round the world. GPR pilots were called in by the
RAF to act as second pilots in the transport aircraft
during the Berlin airlift. During 1956 an order was
given that Army aviation must be combined in some
way in order to rationalise the assets and make them
easier to control. Maj RA Norman-Walker suddenly
found himself with the job of re-forming the AAC.
Next Week...
The Modern Army Air
Corps: The age of
helicopters, terrorists
and astronauts
www.sandbagtimes.co.uk 19 |