Airspeed Horsa
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| Airspeed AS.51 and AS.58 Horsa | |
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| Type | troop and cargo military glider |
| Manufacturer | Airspeed Ltd |
| Maiden flight | 12 September 1941 |
| Introduced | 1941 |
| Primary users | Royal Air Force USAAF |
| Number built | 3799 |
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa Mk I was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces. It was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th century conqueror of Southern Britain.
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[edit] Design and development
The Horsa was designed to meet specification X.26/40 and built from 1940 onwards. It first flew on 12 September 1941. The Horsa was a high-wing cantilever monoplane with wooden wings and a wooden semi-monocoque fuselage. The fuselage was built in three sections bolted together, the front section was the pilot's compartment and main freight loading door, the main section was accommodation for troops or freight, the rear section supported the tail unit. It had a fixed tricycle landing gear and it was one of the first gliders equipped with a tricycle undercarriage for take off. On operational flights this could be jettisoned and landing was then on a sprung skid under the fuselage. The wing carried large "barn door" flaps which, when lowered, made a steep, high rate-of-descent landing possible — allowing the pilots to land in constricted spaces. The pilot's compartment had two side-by-side seats and dual controls. Aft of the pilot's compartment was the freight loading door on the port side. The hinged door could also be used as a loading ramp. The main compartment could accommodate 15 troops on benches along the sides with another access door on the starboard side. The fuselage joint at the rear end of the main section could be broken on landing to assist in rapid unloading of troops and equipment on landing. Supply containers could also be fitted under the centre-section of the wing, three on each side. The later AS.58 Horsa II had a hinged nose section, reinforced floor and double nose wheels to support the extra weight of vehicles. The tow was attached to the nose-wheel strut, rather than the dual wing points of the Horsa I.
The Horsa was considered sturdy and very manoeuvrable for a glider. Production was by Airspeed and subcontractors including Austin Motors and the furniture manufacturers Harris Lebus. A total of 3655 were built. The specification for the gliders had demanded that they were built in a number of sections, and to use facilities not needed for more urgent production, and as a result production was spread across separate factories which limited the likely loss in case of German attack.
[edit] Operational history
The use of assault gliders by the British was prompted by the use by Germany of the DFS 230, which was first used in May 1940 to successfully assault the Eben Emael fort in Belgium. Their advantage compared to parachute assault was that the troops were landed together in one place, rather than being dispersed.
With around 28 troop seats, the Horsa was much bigger than the 13-troop American Waco CG-4A (known as the Hadrian by the British), and the 8-troop General Aircraft Hotspur glider which was intended for training duties only. As well as troops, the AS.51 could carry a jeep or a 6 pounder anti tank gun.
The Horsa was first used operationally on the night of 19/20 November 1942 in the unsuccessful attack on the German Heavy Water Plant at Rjukan in Norway (Operation Freshman). The two Horsa gliders, and one of the Halifax tug aircraft, crashed in Norway due to bad weather. All 23 survivors from the glider crashes were executed on the orders of Hitler, in direct breach of the Geneva Convention which protects POWs from summary execution. After this Hitler called the airborne soldiers "Red Devils" due to their maroon berets.[citation needed] The name stuck with them.
On 10 July 1943, 27 Horsas were used in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Large numbers were subsequently used in Operation Tonga and the American airborne landings in Normandy (Battle of Normandy), Operation Dragoon (southern France), Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) and Operation Varsity (crossing the river Rhine). In Normandy, the first units to land in France did so by Horsas, capturing Pegasus Bridge.
On operations they were towed variously by Stirling, Halifax, Albemarle, Whitley and Dakota tugs, using a harness that attached to both wings. The pilots were usually from the Glider Pilot Regiment, part of the Army Air Corps, although Royal Air Force pilots were used on occasion. The Horsa was also used in service by the USAAF. On 5 June 2004, as part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of D-Day, Prince Charles unveiled a replica Horsa on the site of the first landing at Pegasus Bridge, and talked with the original pilot of the aircraft, Jim Wallwork.
[edit] Variants
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- AS.51 Horsa I
- Production glider with cable attachment points at upper attachment points of main landing gear.
- AS.58 Horsa II
- Development of the Horsa I with hinged nose, to allow direct loading and unloading of equipment, twin nose-wheel and cable attachment on nose-wheel strut.
[edit] Operators
- Army Air Corps
- Royal Air Force
- No. 670 Squadron RAF
[edit] Specifications (AS.51)
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Capacity: 25 troops
- Length: 67 ft (20.4 m)
- Wingspan: 88 ft (26.8 m)
- Height: 21 ft (6.4 m)
- Wing area: 1,148 ft² (106.7 m²)
- Empty weight: 7,500 lb (3,400 kg)
- Loaded weight: 15,250 lb (6,920 kg)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 127 mph on tow; 100 mph gliding (204 km/h / 160 km/h)
- Wing loading: 13.3 lb/ft² (64.8 kg/m²)
[edit] See also
Comparable aircraft Waco CG-4A - General Aircraft Hamilcar - General Aircraft Hotspur - Slingsby Hengist - DFS 230 - Gotha Go 242
Related lists
[edit] References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. New York: Crescent Books, 1988. ISBN 0-517-67964-7.
[edit] External links
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