The British WWII "Airspeed" Horsa Invasion Glider

With the success of Germany's glider borne troops during the invasion of France and the low countries, the Allies began looking at making there own versions. The most successful British type was the Airspeed Horsa and was built in large numbers. Equipped with a large cargo door on the port side, jettisonable tail and a nose that swung upwards, the Horsa Invasion Glider proved to be very capable. The type was used extensively during most airborne operations involving British paratroops and was responsible for airlifting nearly a quarter of air-supplied supplies during the Normandy invasion.
The Horsa was extremely maneuverable considering it was un- powered and rather large. Huge flaps powered by compressed air and wing mounted air brakes allowed the to stand on it's nose and swoop down quietly to a landing, although the troops carried probably didn't appreciate this much. Large numbers were also used by the U.S. Army.

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Purchase Information $3.95 A little personal note... To help design this model, FG had to buy the plastic kit from the hobby shop for $26.95 !!! You get this fine card model with a wealth of information for pocket change,.. And you can build thousands of 'em !! Hmmmmmm PS.. There is a sheet of 8 WWII Jeeps included in the folder Back to World War II

"If you have to go to war, Don't go in a glider !"

What people say... Had a bit of a problem with aligning the wings and tail-feathers (noticeable in these pics). Seemed I just couldn't get things twisted around the way I wanted. I think I may have misaligned the aft part of the fuse. Maybe attach the wing root to its appropriate fuse section, construct the aft section, including the horizontal stabilizers before finishing the fuse? Wayne White 9/03 Serendipity strikes again. A friend just gave me 44 issues of YANK magazine from 1944-45 published by the Army for the ETO(European Theater of Operations). One photo shows the Glider box "Shanty Town" the guys built after pulling and assembling the gliders. A guy is hanging out a window. If I remember correctly, it is on a golf course in England. By the way, also tells of the green crew that bailed out of a B-24 with suspected engine runaway. The Liberator settled down without all the fledgling inputs and returned to fly over England for several hours with no crew and a full bomb load. Real interesting tale of how they verified it was empty and finally6 Spitfires were able to shoot it down over the ocean, one shooting his guns dry. Dennis Brooks (9/03) I'm sure this isn't the first you've heard of this, but as an artilleryman I took note of the info under the 75mm Pack Howitzer picture on the HORSA Invasion Glider Instruction sheet. There is one correction....The Howitzer did not weigh 13,450 pounds. According to the Tech Manual under weights--Howitzer and carriage (complete with accessories)..1,440 lb. Wheel with tire (each).. 90 lb. Some other interesting information. Yes, it could fire 6 rounds per minute for the first 4 minutes. The maximum range was 9,620 yards (or just short of 5.5 miles). Not only could it be pulled by a jeep, packed on a horse back, loaded in a glider, loaded on a C-46, but it could also be packed for parachute drop. Great models. I enjoy all. Jeff (all fixed, chip) 4/07