RAF Sleap/81 OTU and 38 Group – Horsas.

Ello,

Bit of a longshot but just putting it out there.

Jan 1944, No.81 OTU based at RAF Sleap where made part of 38 Group where they took on the role of towing Horsa gliders.

Despite having a ton of books about the glider pilot regiment I seem to have very sparse details about Sleap and what sort of unit it was.

So to throw a couple of questions out there:

1) Was the glider unit at Sleap under an official designation? For example at Brize Norton was the “HGCU” (Heavy Glider Conversion Unit) but for the gliders at Sleap I can’t find any other unit reference than “81 OTU”. Was it an HGCU? GPEU?

2) Was the purpose of the unit to train tug pilots, glider pilots or both?

3) One distinct feature of gliders operating from Sleap is that the indivual glider numbers are written large on the rear fuselage next to the roundel. This is contrast to the HGCU at Brize that had theirs behind the cockpit. That said, I’ve only ever seen two photos of gliders at Sleap. Does anyone know of any more? (The ones I know of can been seen at http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/s,sleap.html).

4) Finally and this is a long-shot. I need to try and track down some examples of aircraft serials for Horsa gliders used by the unit. I don’t have any movment sheets, ORBs or accident reports to hand so I don’t know if anyone else might have some unit records I could pull the info from.

Any help appreciated.