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Horsa
Manufacturer : Airspeed
The Airspeed AS 51 Horsa named after Horsa the legendary conqueror of southern Britain in the 5th century was built by Airspeed Ltd during the second world war. The Horsa was a troop carrying glider that also could carry light vehicles. On the 19th / 20th November 1942 the Horsa was used for the first time for Operation Freshman, the unsuccessful attack at Rjukan in Norway on the German heavy water plant. The two Horsa gliders, each carrying 15 sappers, and one of the two Halifax Bombers used to tow the gliders, crashed in Norway due to bad weather. All 23 survivors from the glider crashes were executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler. In preparation for further operational deployment, 30 Horsa gliders were air-towed by Halifax bombers from Great Britain to North Africa but three aircraft were lost in transit. On 10 July 1943, 27 surviving Horsas were used in the invasion of Sicily during Operation Husky. During the Normandy landings over 250 Horsa Gliders were used by British and US Forces. The first units to land in France during the Battle for Normandy were at Pegasus Bridge where 6 Horsas were used in the capture of the bridge over the Caen canal, and a further bridge over the River Orne. In 1944 large numbers were also used for Operation Dragoon and Operation Market Garden, and in March 1945 Horsas again were used during Operation Varsity and the final operation for the Horsa when 440 gliders carried soldiers of the 6th Airborne Division across the Rhine. The Horsa Glider was towed by a variety of aircraft, usually bombers. The Short Stirling, Handley Page Halifax, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle and also the Douglas C-47 Dakota. During Operation Market Garden, a total of 1,336 C-47s along with 340 Stirlings were employed to tow 1,205 gliders, and Curtiss C-46 Commando. They were towed with a harness that attached to points on both wings, and also carried a intercom between tug and glider. The glider pilots were usually from the Glider Pilot Regiment, part of the Army Air Corps, although Royal Air Force pilots were used on this occasion. |
Horsa
  Tugs of War (Stirling & Gliders) by Ivan Berryman. (PC) |   D-Day Invasion : Tribute to the Glider Troops by Ivan Berryman. (PC) |   Coup de Main, Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, 6th June 1944 by David Pentland. (PC) |  Final Descent by Richard Taylor. |
Horsa Artwork Collection |
  Tugs of War (Stirling & Gliders) by Ivan Berryman. |   D-Day Invasion : Tribute to the Glider Troops by Ivan Berryman. |   The Longest Day Begins - Pegasus Bridge by Geoff Lea |
  LZ S-17, Operation Market Garden, September 1944 by Jason Askew. |   Out of the Night - The First To Go In by Robert Taylor. | Final Descent by Richard Taylor. |
  Coup de Main, Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, 6th June 1944 by David Pentland. |   Operation Deadstick by Michael Turner |
| Horsa Squadron details |
| Horsa Pilot and aircrew signature details |
  Staff Sergeant Peter B Boyle Our estimated value of this signature : £15 | Staff Sergeant Peter B Boyle One of the pilots in the third glider to arrive alongside what was to become famous as Pegasus Bridge, Boyle had a key role in perhaps the most dramatic action by airborne forces on D-Day. The Horsa landed heavily on the edge of a pond throwing two officers through cockpit windows and temporarily trapping some of the troops in the aircraft - one had been killed, the only fatal casualty in the landings. Boyle then joined in the actions across bridge. Although demanding very accurate flying (all three gliders landed within 500 metres of the bridge), they had been rigorously trained for the landings; Boyle remembers more than 40 individual rehearsals. A few months later he landed another Horsa at Arnhem but was taken prisoner in the subsequent fighting. |
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