Background In the early stages of the
Second World War, the German military demonstrated its role as a pioneer in the deployment of airborne operations. These forces had conducted several successful operations during the
Battle of France in 1940, including the use of glider-borne troops during the
Battle of Fort Eben-Emael. As a result of this decision, the creation of two British airborne divisions came about, as well as smaller-scale units. On 22 June 1940, the British airborne establishment was formally initiated when the
Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill, directed the
War Office in a memorandum to investigate the possibility of creating a
corps of 5,000 parachute troops. During 1941, the United States also embarked on a similar programme. While the equipment for the airborne forces was under development, it was decided by War Office officials that
gliders would be an integral component of such a force. It was initially thought that gliders would be used to deliver paratroops. Transport aircraft would both carry paratroops and tow a glider with a second party of troops. The idea arose as a response to the severe shortage of transport aircraft in the early part of the war, as in this way the number of troops that could be dropped in an operation by a given number of transport aircraft would be greatly enhanced. The empty gliders would be towed back to base. However, thinking eventually evolved into using gliders to land both troops and heavy equipment in the theatre of operations. The first glider produced was the
General Aircraft Hotspur, which first flew on 5 November 1940. Several problems were found with the Hotspur's design, the worst being its inability to carry sufficient troops. It was believed that airborne troops should be landed in larger groups than the eight that the Hotspur could carry, and that the number of towplanes required would prove to be impractical. There were also concerns that the gliders would have to be towed in tandem, which would be extremely hazardous at night or through cloud. Accordingly, it was decided that the Hotspur would be used only as a training glider, while British industry continued with the development of several different gliders, including a larger 25-seater assault glider, which would become the
Airspeed Horsa. The specification required the use of wood where possible to conserve critical supplies of metal. Airspeed would designate the Horsa the
AS.51. whose efforts began at the
de Havilland technical school at
Hatfield, Hertfordshire, before relocating to
Salisbury Hall,
London Colney. Early on, inquiries were made into the possibility of a further 400 being manufactured in
India for the use of Indian airborne forces, however, this plan was abandoned when it was discovered the required wood would have to be imported into India. As specified in
Specification X3/41, 200
AS 52 Horsas were also to be constructed to carry bombs. A central fuselage bomb bay holding four or two bombs was fitted into the standard Horsa fuselage. The concept of towing bombs was dropped as other bombers became available, resulting in the order for the AS 52 being cancelled. In early 1942, production of the Horsa commenced; by May 1942, some 2,345 had been ordered by the Army for use in future airborne operations. production of the remainder was performed by an assortment of subcontractors. These same contractors would produce an improved model of the glider, designated as the
AS.53 Horsa Mk II, while none would be manufactured by Airspeed themselves. The Horsa Mk II had been specifically designed for the carriage of vehicles, featuring a reinforced floor and a hinged nose section in order to accommodate such use. Other changes included the adoption of a twin nosewheel arrangement, a modified tow attachment and an increased all-up weight of . As a consequence of the majority of subcontractors not having available airfields from which to deliver the gliders, they sent the sub-assemblies to RAF
Maintenance Units (MUs), who would perform final assembly themselves; this process has been attributed as being responsible for the widely varying production numbers recorded of the type. Between 3,655 and 3,799 Horsas had been completed by the time production ended. ==Design==