Horsa MKI Arnhem

As I`ve mentioned on the other thread,a witness in the village saw the tail come off the double hills glider with a` puff of smoke`.

Double Hills

There are 2 booklet about 9th Field Company RE, the one by John Sliz, is still available

Yes, that was the one. Looks like premature detonation of the tail, but I guess exact reason unknown. Very tragic.

Thought it might of been the Double Hills Horsa mentioned here before but that was towed by a Stirling.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=104374

I know of a few gliders that disintegrated on the way, accounts of other pilots seeing jeeps falling out of the sky with the drivers still sat in them flak just making entired gliders vanish in a puff of smoke and splinters. 🙁

Arnhem, Martin Middlebrook.
In the above book it mentions a Halifax tail gunner who watched the Horsa it was towing “break up in mid air (tail came off) and crash to earth”.

Do you have any information regarding this incident and was any cause ever found?

Shame. I was planning on ordering one when I got back from holiday 🙁

booklet sold out

Thanks mmitch, yes I know the book as I know both authors.

Regarding the chalk numbers, from memory I can’t tell you which ones, but it seems that only the even or oneven loading list survived sometimes some loading list with chalk numbers turn up in the National Archives in Kew.

In the book are two so called glider cards with serial number and what happened to both the gliders.

I expect you guys have already seen a book called ‘Glider pilots at Arnhem’
I was reading it recently and it made most references to the ‘chalk numbers’
One of the more amusing references was that 12 ‘stowaways’ were known!
RAF and Army types who wanted to go too!
mmitch.

Philip,

Sounds interesting and I’m a little curious. 🙂

One thing though in your last statement intrigues me as it seems to contradict all the books/research I’ve seen to date.

My belief was that the chalk numbers were wildly known but it was the crews/loads and serial numbers of the Horsas that were in dispute. Mostly this was down to the Form B’s not being complete and the fact that the gliders serial was never used in paper work, just it’s chalk number.

I’ve been trying for years to match up chalk numbers visible in photographs with aircraft serials which is why this sounds interesting…