Horsa Mk II – Market Garden

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If you have a reliable source I’d love some more information because all evidence I’ve seen implies only one Mk.II Horsa existed before July 1944. 🙂

So here’s my take based on my own research over the years and empirical evidence from period photos.

The problem I have with the Mk.II’s in Normandy/Holland comes down to chronology and the issues of wartime production. In short:

– The Mk.II didn’t even become a real idea until 1943 when operational experience of the Mk.I highlighted it’s shortcomings in terms of unloading under combat conditions.
– Up until July 1944 the only Mk.II in existence for definite was the trials prototype LJ271 and anything Airspeed had in the Christchurch factory.
– The first of the production batch of Mk.IIs didn’t arrive as complete aircraft from Airspeed until 18th August 1944 and that was to the servicing echelon, not even to operational squadrons.
– In the month between the first delivery and Operation Market there would never have been enough Mk.IIs to make it worth using them. You have to factor in troop/pilot unfamiliarity of operating the new type but also the supply/maintenance chain.
– Given all the photos of gliders, both USAAF and RAF in Normandy and Arnhem, I’ve never seen a Mk.II photographed in those locations.

Jigs/tooling and drawings for the Mk.II started to be issued to the sub-contractors from April 1944 but no production started until July 1944 as the MAP didn’t want to upset the production of Mk.Is needed for D-Day. Airspeed’s complete aircraft started to be delivered to the servicing units in August but the “kits” of components for assembly by maintenance units came much later. 6 MU at Brize Norton didn’t receive their first Mk.II parts until October 1944 and still hadn’t assembled any by November as they didn’t have everything needed.

Regarding the LF series, I’ve not (yet) bothered to trawl the movement cards for Horsa gliders but from all the research I’ve done the earliest source stating they were Mk.IIs is “Airspeed Aircraft since 1931” published in 1970. Appendix IV lays out the Mk.I and Mk.II serials but is incorrect in some aspects. For example, it states that the PW series were Mk.IIs when in fact they were Mk.Is and there are photos of PW gliders in Normandy identifiable as such.

It also lists the LF series under the same Mk.II header and states 20 of those as being sent to the USAAF. I don’t believe they were Mk.II’s because that serial was part of contract 1664 which covered Mk.I fuselages built by Austin Motors and delivered between March-Dec 1942. I can’t logically think why an additional 65 fuselages were tacked onto an order to be delivered in 1942 and then held back for nearly 2 years. The other issue I have is that it was the RAF that allocated serial numbers once the gliders were assembled, not the sub contractors so why would the RAF hold onto 65 LF serials for that long? The final nail in the coffin for me though is the fact that there are pictures of LF series gliders in Normandy that are clearly Mk.Is.

Regarding the USAAF handing back the gliders – it’s entirely possibly and you wouldn’t be able to say for sure without looking through all the movement cards. Michael Bowyer compiled a list in 1976 of serials used on operations but I don’t know his sources but I believe he did use the movement cards. He quotes the following LF serials for Tonga, Mallard and Market.

Tonga/Mallard: LF906, 909, 912, 916, 918, 952, 957.
Market: LF886, 888, 893, 897, 908, 914, 920, 921, 943, 958, 961

Should also note, his serial lists for Market don’t contain any serials from the first Mk.II production batch.

Quick answer. None.

The Horsa Mk.II didn’t start coming off the production line and arriving at Maintenance Units until August 1944 and not enough were complete in time for Operation Market. The only operational use of the Mk.II was Operation Varsity.

Apparently about 75 Horsa Mk IIs were delivered prior to 6/6/44

I have information from a very reliable source that the Americans used at least 4 Mk IIs in Normandy (serials in the early LFxxx series) so I would have assumed that at least a few were also used by the British in Market Garden.

The same source told me that some of the MK IIs originally allocated to the US were returned to the RAFand are recorded as being lost at Arnhem – so I think that at least a few must have been around.

Quick answer. None.

The Horsa Mk.II didn’t start coming off the production line and arriving at Maintenance Units until August 1944 and not enough were complete in time for Operation Market. The only operational use of the Mk.II was Operation Varsity.