Early deployment by Germany of paratroops, and of gliders carrying airborne troops or supplies, had been seen to be tactically advantageous. It was considered essential in Britain that its armed forces should be similarly equipped and the United States, at a later date, came to the same decision. In December 1940 Airspeed received Air Ministry Specification X.26/40, which called for a troop-carrying glider, and this was to have almost double the capacity of the Waco CG-4A Hadrian which was designed and developed in America for the US Army during 1941. Following acceptance of Airspeed’s design proposal, the Air Ministry ordered seven prototypes. Two of these when fabricated were assembled at Fairey’s works, these being the flight lest examples. The remaining five were assembled at Airspeed’s factory at Portsmouth, and these were for use by the British Army to carry out trials in the loading and unloading of typical equipment that they would be expected to. The Airspeed Horsa was the main British assault glider of the war, in two versions: the Mk I troop version For 25 men, and the Mk II freight version with a hinged nose, double nosewheels and revised tow system. By comparison with the design for a contemporary fighter or bomber aircraft, one would expect that of Airspeed’s AS.51 to be simple. This would have been true if it had not been an essential requirement that the glider must be composed of a number of easily assembled units, instead of being built conventionally on a production line. Thus, it consisted of 30 separate assemblies built mainly by woodworking subcontractors, such as furniture manufacturers. They were subsequently assembled and test flown at RAF Maintenance Units, with some 3.000 of these gliders being constructed in this way. Only about 700 of the AS,51s that were built were manufactured, assembled and test flown in one place, and these originated from Airspeed at their Christchurch, Hants, factory. Produced simultaneously with the AS.51 which became designated Horsa I. was the AS.58 with a hinged nose for the direct loading of vehicles and guns, and this was designated Horsa II. An aerial illustration ot a Horsa I shows the tow-attachment points of this trooping version at the Junction of the meln landing gear legs and spar. The Mk ll's ettachment point was on the nosewheel leg. Almost entirely of wood construction, the cantilever high-set wing was built in three sections, had ailerons, split trailing edge flaps, and underwing dive brakes, The fuselage was also in three sections, and provided accommodation for two pilots and a maximum of 23 troops. Landing gear was of the fixed tricycle type, and there was provision to jettison the main units for landing on very rough areas, when the nose wheel and sprung landing skid on the under fuselage centreline had to suffice. The AS.58 had twin nose wheels. The first prototype, towed by an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, was flown from Fairey's Great West Aerodrome on 12 September 1941 and soon after this date the Horsa began to enter service with the RAF towed for operational purposes by powered aircraft of RAF Transport Command. They were used to carry men and equipment of the Air Landing Brigades of the 1st and 6 th Airborne Divisions, piloted mainly by men of the British Army's Glider Pilot Regiment but also as and when necessary, by RAF pilots. The first significant operational use of the Horsa was on 10 July 1943 when 27 survivors of 30 air-towed from Britain to North Africa were deployed during the invasion of Sicily. Horsas subsequently played an important part in the Normandy invasion of June 1944, operated by the RAF and the USAAF in the invasion of southern France in August 1944 at Arnhem in September 1944 and during the Rhine crossing in March 1945. It is impossible to quote accurate production figures for the Horsa. The totals agreed by several researchers, however, cannot be too far out and are as near as possible to the true number. These comprise 470 Mk I and 225 Mk II’s by Airspeed, plus the original seven prototypes: 300 Mk I’s and 65 Mk II’s by the Austin Motor Company; and I.461 Mk I’s and 1.271 Mk II’s by subcontractors in the woodworking industry, the majority produced by the furniture manufacturer Harris Lebus, This amounts to a grand total of 3.799. Specification: Type: Troop and cargo combat glider Powerplant: none Performance: Maximum towing speed 150 mph, normal gliding speed 100 mph. Weights: Empty 8,370 lb, maximum take-off (Horsa I) 15.500 lb (Horsa II) 15.750 lb Dimensions: Span 88 ft, length (Horsa I) 67 ft, (Horsa II) 67 ft 11 in, height (Horsa I) 19 ft 6 in, (Horsa II) 20 ft 4 in, wing area 1.104 sq ft. Armament: none Operators: RAF & USAAF
