A very good outline of The Glider Pilot Regiment ('42 ~ '45) History may found at the link given below :: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/marfleetwright/GPR/links.htm
Wartime gliding (civil) 1939 stopped November 1940, resumed February 1944: http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/oldsandgmagazines.htm Horsa 1 Pilots Notes 1944: http://www.scribd.com/doc/81441392/...lider-with-Appendices-for-Tug-Aircraft-Pilots Glider Training: http://www.scribd.com/doc/72643502/Air-Force-Glider-Program-History-Part-1 http://www.scribd.com/doc/72645426/Air-Force-Glider-Program-History-Part-2
Development and Procurement Gilders US: http://www.scribd.com/doc/46043948/...ders-in-the-Army-Air-Force-1941-1944-USA-1946 http://www.scribd.com/doc/12980506/1942-US-Army-WWII-German-Enemy-AirBorne-Forces-110p
Hamilcar gliders (the biggest//Waco, the smallest) of the 1st Airborne, enable to carry light tanks like Tetrarch or jeeps to the front. This due to its enormous wing-span of about 112ft / 34m, been the largest WOODEN Aircraft (8 tons and the same more to load) of the Airborne Combat History of WW2 ! I know about CG13 (US) but aint 've any infos wheather it ever carried any of Such loads. Good infoes on The Brief History of Combat Gliders in WW2 by J L Lawden, here at : http://www.indianamilitary.org/ATTERBURYAAF/Glider CG-4A/Gliders.htm
US Glider film: http://www.criticalpast.com/stock-footage-video/US-Gliders-_2 http://www.criticalpast.com/stock-footage-video/British-Gliders Army List June 1944 - Army Air Corp/ Glider Pilot Regiment/ Parachute Regiment: (Page 1396---) https://archive.org/stream/armylistjulpart121944gre#page/1946/mode/2up/search/glider pilots
Life expectancy of a Glider Pilot (WW2) comparing to Others .... ! Someone told me to check it here : http://www.notoriousnkp.org/index.html " Those Damned Glider Pilots " ~ W D Knickerbocker .. Bomber Pilot : 1.45 hrs Fighter Pilot : 20mins Glider Pilot : 15secs ..!
Pathe 1942 (Hotspur): http://www.britishpathe.com/video/silent-air-armada/query/hotspur gliders Pathe 1945 (Hamilcar): http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/hamilcar gliders
Op Horsa Bridge : Order of Battle ~ http://www.americandday.org/D-Day/Horsa_Bridge_Order_of_battle.html Not only this, the combat glider support at the Caen bridge head of the 6th Airborne Dv (Please recall Maj Howard of the light infantry against formidable 21st Panzers), or the Chindit commandos when charged the Japs from behind in Burma, or you may just think of the 37mm ATGs that been carried into, how much effective it was there to destroy the German pill boxes during the D-Days, just unmatched . I think without the constant Combat Glider support, throughout all the struggles for crossing the Rhine, would have been impossible !
