Airspeed Horsa, Great Britain's Assault Glider.

It has no engine. It is built almost entirely of wood, by furniture makers. It carries 25 soldiers, or a jeep, or a gun, into the dark behind enemy lines.

The Airspeed Horsa is Britain’s main assault glider of the Second World War. In this episode, Michael Weyers follows it from the first British reaction to Eben Emael in 1940, through the specification, the design team and the first flight, to the factories that build it in 30 sub-assemblies. He looks inside the glider, from the cockpit to the tail, and explains how the Mark 2 gets a hinged nose for vehicles and guns.

Then the Horsa goes to war. The episode covers its operations from Norway in 1942 to the crossing of the Rhine in 1945: the British and American missions in Sicily, Normandy, southern France and the Netherlands, with the numbers and the results of each. It also covers the modifications made to the six gliders of the coup de main on D-Day.

Part of The Special Forces in World War II Podcast. Visit worldwar2-sof.com for more.

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