British Furniture Makers Built £2,000 Wooden Gliders — That Carried Tanks Into Battle on D-Day скачать в хорошем качестве

British Furniture Makers Built £2,000 Wooden Gliders — That Carried Tanks Into Battle on D-Day

June 6th, 1944. Midnight. Six Horsa gliders crossed the Channel toward Pegasus Bridge. Inside each wooden aircraft sat thirty British paratroopers. These gliders—constructed from plywood by furniture manufacturers—had to land within fifty yards in darkness. At 00:16, Major John Howard's glider touched down ninety yards from the bridge—the most accurate combat glider landing of the war. Within ten minutes, his men seized the bridge. Wooden aircraft built by furniture makers had delivered British airborne forces exactly where needed. The problem began in 1940. Germany demonstrated devastating airborne assault effectiveness. Britain needed large gliders capable of delivering vehicles, artillery, and tanks. But aircraft manufacturers were at maximum capacity. Building gliders meant reducing Spitfire production—unacceptable when fighting for survival. The solution: furniture manufacturers. Companies like Harris Lebus could construct wooden structures to precise specifications. December 1940, Specification X.26/40 called for a large assault glider. Designer Hessell Tiltman kept it simple: three-ply timber, spruce, plywood. Deliberately designed "suitable for the furniture trade." First prototype flew September 1941—eleven months later. Production was revolutionary. The Horsa broke into thirty separate subassemblies. Furniture factories manufactured components—wings in Birmingham, fuselage in High Wycombe. Parts shipped to RAF Maintenance Units for assembly. Decentralized production meant German bombing couldn't destroy production. Over 3,800 Horsas built, consuming resources equivalent to 200 bombers but delivering guaranteed single-mission capability. The Horsa measured seventy-seven feet, carried twenty-eight troops, or a jeep, or a gun with crew. Mk II featured hinged nose for vehicles. Expendable by design—abandoned after landing. D-Day: Operation Tonga used over 300 Horsas. Pegasus Bridge assault—six gliders landing within yards in darkness. Larger Hamilcar gliders—also wooden, also furniture-built—delivered tanks. Thirty Hamilcars carried seven-ton Tetrarch light tanks. One broke loose mid-flight, crashed through nose into Channel. Two collided landing. One flipped unloading. Seventeen Tetrarchs reached assembly area, providing armor behind German lines. Cost: Horsa £2,000—same as jeep. Fifty gliders lost = £100,000, trivial versus one destroyer. Tetrarch delivery: £5,000 glider, £10,000 tank, £50,000 Halifax—£65,000 total per tank behind enemy lines. Market Garden: 2,000+ gliders to Arnhem. Operation Varsity March 1945: 400+ crossing Rhine. By war's end, Horsas delivered 50,000+ troops. Program cost £7.5 million—less than three destroyers. Most scrapped post-war. One Mk II survives at Museum of Army Flying. Replica at Pegasus Bridge, unveiled 2004 with Prince Charles and pilot Jim Wallwork. Legacy: furniture makers built aircraft when traditional capacity didn't exist. #ww2 #raf #militaryhistory #ww2documentary SOURCES: Primary: Air Ministry Specification X.26/40 (Dec 1940); Airspeed design records; RAF Maintenance Unit assembly records; Operation Tonga reports (June 1944); 6th Airborne Division war diaries. Manufacturers: Harris Lebus production; Austin Motors components; Tiltman, A.H. designer quotes; 30 subassemblies; 3,800 total built 1942-1945. Operations: Freshman Norway (Nov 1942); Husky Sicily (July 1943); Tonga D-Day (June 6, 1944) - Pegasus Bridge; Market Garden (Sept 1944) - 2,000+ gliders; Varsity Rhine (March 1945) - 400+ gliders. Pegasus: Howard, Major John commander; Wallwork, Jim pilot; 90-yard landing; 00:16 landing time; 6 gliders, 10-minute capture. Hamilcar & Tanks: GAL.49 Hamilcar specs; 34 D-Day; Tetrarch 7-ton tanks; 6th Airborne Armoured Recon; Losses: 1 through nose, 2 collision, 1 flipped, 17 operational. Technical: 77-foot length, 67-foot wingspan; 28-troop capacity; 3-ply timber/spruce/plywood; Mk II hinged nose, reinforced floor; Single-mission design. Statistics: 50,000+ troops delivered; £2,000 per Horsa; £7.5M program cost; Resources = 200 bombers. Museums: Museum of Army Flying Middle Wallop (Mk II KJ351); Pegasus Bridge Memorial (replica 2004); Tank Museum Bovington (Hamilcar section).