AvWeb Normandy Visit: Gliders of D Day 

My dad was a pilot of a CG4A glider during the D-Day invasion. He passed away in 1992 and seldom talked about it. Thank you

I just saw this the day after Memorial Day, 2022. Thinking of my Dad, T/3, Norman W. Skinner, who jumped in with the 101st. He made it home after being in all the 101st jumps and the Battle of the Bulge. Thank you for the well done video.

The Waco glider (known to the British as a 'Hadrian') was one of two types used by US and British paratroopers in Normandy. The other was the British 'Horsa', of which 400 were supplied for US troop use. The Waco carried 13 fully equipped troops and was smaller but could be towed by the C47 and 'snatch' lifted with a hook deployed from the tail from airfields in Britain for quick turnaround. The Horsa carried 30 fully equipped troops but had to be tow lifted from airfields in Britain by second line bombers no longer in offensive operations eg Stirling, Halifax, Whitley etc

In case you can't get to this location, there is an amazing museum about the gliders in Lubbock, Texas. It is called the Silent Wings Museum. It is on the original site where the pilots were trained.

Thank you. My Dad landed his glider at St. Mere Eglise on D-Day Morning. He told me he saw John Steele hanging from the church steeple as he made his way to Utah Beach..Dad made three or four more glider landings in Holland, France, and Germany.. I have his uniform and all his glider manifests. With appreciation to you Paul for airing a lesser-known story. Phillip

Excellent video. Thank you from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

Thank you, Paul, for your excellent and respectful treatment of this subject.

We honor the people, despise the assault on humanity. Great video, much appreciated.

This is fabulous. The pictures early in the show is my Uncle Herbert Barbour. He was in the Battle of the Bulge and awarded a Bronze Star.

I visited the area a couple of years ago and it was moving. I particularly liked the families spending time together on the beaches. A freedom won for them at great cost by others but the happy noise of children at play seemed right and a lasting memorial in its own right.

GT job this is a must-visit never knew anything about this site as soon as this virus has gone god bless them all, bob UK. 76 years.

Paul - thank you for doing this piece. Saw it today, Father's Day and couldn't help thinking of my Dad and his role in the invasion. 82nd Airborne, 325th Glider Regiment, Company I.

Thank you for such a well done piece. My grandfather was a glider pilot. He landed in Normandy just outside of St. Mere Eglise and flew in Market Garden. I'm thankful for people who keep these memories alive and honor those that sacrificed so much so long ago.

Paul: Congratulations on a wonderful presentations. You may not know that my father conducted a primary glider training program during 1943 in Janesville, Wisconsin. My older brother was one of the 12 flight instructors used to train 110 pilots using Piper Cubs and the like. The training operation that my father ran deserves a story in itself. A few years ago I visited the museum in Sainte-Mere-Eglise as well as the American cemetery. You were spot on regarding the emotional reaction one feels standing there. Good job! Field Morey - West Coast Adventures

Thank you! My Uncle Joe Savala was a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. His old shoulder patch has the gilder on it, and it is displayed in my cubicle. I had always wondered about the unit he served in. Thanks.

Thank you for your informative video. I remember my father, Private Walter W. Lucas, mentioning St. Mere Eglise, through which he marched just after wading ashore upon exiting a Higgins landing craft, then repeatedly unloading ammunition by wading through the surf, at Utah Beach on June 6, 1943.

My grandfather was the head of the Glider Department at the very beginning!

Fantastic piece Paul. I enjoyed this immensely today on the 75th anniversary of the d day invasion. From 01 to 03 I had the good fortune to serve in the famed 101st as an infantryman. The organization takes a lot of pride in its long and distinguished history. An interesting side piece, the 101st soldiers still wore the glider patch on our headgear until the army moved to the beret in 2001, a throwback to the units origination.

My uncle was 101st airborne glider engineer, he survived but didn't talk much unless drinking! On one operation of +400 gliders only 14; were reusable, afterwards! (14) ☠️

Outstanding report. The close on the cemetery is chilling, very well done

The wheeled CG4A's were able to be picked up by a tow hook from an overflying C-47. I would have never known about that capability if it weren't shown near the end of the movie "Objective Burma".

Paul's presentation style is exemplary. The facts are conveyed without embroidery but in a laconic manner that suits the subject matter well. I have watched many of his AvWeb episodes and enjoyed them all.

Thankyou Paul. I'm a Brit, I've been to the WW1 sites, but I need to see these. Great report as usual.

Thank you for this video Paul.

Thanks, Paul. Well done, as are all your pieces (video and written) for AvWeb.

Thank you Paul

>^..^< Just a few thousand + more fine example why they call these men the "Greatest Generation".............. Great 9:20 talk on D Day Mr. AvWeb backed by great histotical visual segments along with current photos, Thank You...........

Wow! This was super enlightening. I did not know you until now but this is some high quality content right here. Thank you so much for it.

Pilots of the British Glider Pilot Regiment, were highly trained and well thought of. After they landed and the aircraft was unloaded, the pilots fought along side the troops who they carried into battle.

Well done, Paul. Thank you.

Very informative, nicely produced, thanks.

Very professionally done. Learned a lot. Tks

At 9:04 there is a video on RU-vid showing the actual burial of WW2 soldiers in Europe. They used bull dozers to dig a trench, then threw the bodies in a mass burial. The well placed individual markers were added later.

Excellent video. C47 were also used as gliders. No engines, half full of fuel, a few airmen, ammunition, oil and tools. These gliders landed on ground cleared by the army and xhecked by airman as suitable forca fighter unit. The gliders landed and in a shirt times fighters could land, refuel, re arm and be back in the battle quickly.

Great history lesson, thank you.

Very nice piece Paul!

excellent post. thanks!

Thank you for this. Lest we forget.

Very well presented.

British glider pilots were selected from Army, not RAF, non-comms, thus were proficient in the light weapons carried by the paratroopers and, as in the seizure of Pegasus Bridge, which took place just a few minutes after midnight on 6 June 1944, upon landing their Horsa gliders joined in the efforts to achieve the operation’s objective.

Nice video lots of cool information.

I think it is properly pronounced -- WAYCO. Just a minor correction. I also understand that there are cemeteries for the German dead there as well.

As if it wasn't unfortunate enough that the C-47's overshot the designated drop zones, many of the Airborne units suffered casualties when those gliders crash-landed into obstacles.

Great aviation history there

It's ok that there is a little bit of a flea market atmosphere, nothing wrong with a little commerce, As for the Gliders well they were short lived, soldiers, ride into battle now on helicopters. I would think that spending just three days would make for a little bit of a rush to see where history was made- It's on my bucket list, I don't care much for cities like Paris, I could spend a couple of weeks wandering around St. Mere Eglise and the surrounding countryside! Well done Paul as usual.

My grandfather's glider crashed upon landing; killing the head officer in charge of the unit along with everyone else on board. He drug himself out with almost all of his ribs shattered until a medic found him.

Great !

my dad was in the 101st, a sergeant. his job was to bring in the company jeep by glider. hated flying for the rest of his life!!!

It takes quite a bit of skill and experience not just to land a heavy glider on a farm field with trees and hedges all around it, but then to manoeuvre the glider to an edge of the field (to make landing space for others behind) before all its energy was lost. I suppose some of the troops were required to pull gliders to the side, if they stopped where they would obstruct landings.

It looks like something you could make with plywood in your back yard.

How about mentioning the first men to hit the ground on D Day, the British glider operation to capture the bridges across the river Orne, most famously Pegasus Bridge.

Isnt there a movie on this

太棒了

Hello, my GGrandfater V.V.Crouch was in Verdun in WWII part of a Railroad Battalion. There was an incident where 60 glider pilots showed up and needed to get back to get more gliders. This was problematic due to sabotage of tracks, equipment and communication. Supply drops not getting through until a night glider mission was put together. Parts flow in. Train assembled, track cleared. Locomotive was fired and dawn and they got through without any authorization from HQ. Has anyone heard this? Can anyone add to this? I do have some documents, photos that confirm some of this.

What was the "must have" map and where to get it?? In Normandy right now on a "tour de Duxford and Normandy" in my RV6...

What kind of safety margin did the tow aircraft have to keep it above the stall speed ?

Not bloody likely I'll walk to war

NO Wonder So Many LIKES !!!

Thanks for the great report with an excellent script and good body mike sound but shame on the editor for using or altering the historical films and photos by BBCing them; blowing-up, blurring (destroying the original resolution), and cropping (or stretching/distorting) to fill the 16:9 aspect ratio frame. The historical photographers and cinematographers carefully composed their images in the format they had and no one has the right to degrade and censor their work.

Thank you, very informative. At the same time, you fail to contrast the American glider pilots with the combat role of the British Glider Pilot Regiment. It's men had weapons and a clear operational role. Typically holding the landing area.

Hard Landing

"Canvas" would be too heavy

lots of false information here just one example there was a plan to recover them and almost 300 were recovered after Operation Market Garden...watch that history and a way better history definition