War Diary: 2 Wing Glider Pilot Regiment

Month and year: October 1944

The October 1944 war diary covers the reorganisation and rebuilding of glider forces in the UK following Operation Market. Based at airfields including Broadwell, Blakehill Farm, Tarrant Rushton, and Down Ampney, crews returned from Italy and began training on Hamilcar and Horsa gliders. New personnel were posted in from depots to replace losses from Operation Market, while others were sent to RAF stations such as Ashbourne and Sleap for flying training. The period focused on rebuilding strength and readiness through intensive flying exercises, including mass take-off and landing practices.

National Archive Reference: WO 171/1235

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WO 171/1235 2 Wing Glider Pilot Regiment

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Page 1 of 2

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information
TARRANT RUSHTON.	1 2 3	A practice mass landing and take-off carried out with 10 HORSAS (Light load)
" DOWN AMPNEY	) 4 )	22 crews sent to FAIRFORD to ferry HORSAS to ROME. 3 crews " " " " " " " "
	5 6
	7 8
FAIRFORD	9	Gliders took off for ITALY. Flight carried out in two stages. First stage FAIRFORD to ISTRES (Nr Marseilles) took about 51/2 hours. One glider
		force landed in Northern France - all others arrived safely.
ISTRES	10	Gliders took off for CAMPINO (Near ROME). All arrived safely.
	11 12
	13 14
	15 16
TARRANT R.	17 18 )
DOWN AMPNEY	19 )	Glider crews returned from ITALY.
TARRANT RUSHTON	20	Training of new HAMILCAR and HORSA crews comenced.
BALKEHILL FM	21	Major I.A. Dale D.F.C. awarded Bar to D.F.C. Lieut. Taylorson awarded DFC. Lieut. A.E. Pickwood. awarded D.F.C.
	22
BROADWELL	23	25 crews sent to R.A.F. Station, ASHBOURNE, Derbyshire for flying training.
DOWN AMPNEY		25 crews sent to R.A.F. Station, SLEAP, Shropshire, for flying training.
BROADWELL	24 25	Postings from Depot commenced to fill vacancies caused by OPERATION "MARKET".

Page 2 of 2

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
BROADWELL	26		Major F.A.S. Murray awarded the M.C. Commenced Flying Training.
			General re-organisation of No: 2 Wing took place as follows:-
			23 Flight posted from "G" Squadron to "C" Squadron.
			19 Flight " " "B" " " "F" " 9 & 22 "s " " "D" " " "F" "
			1 Flight " " "A" " " "E" "
			Distribution of Flights was therefore changed and BROADWELL holds 3 Flights, Blakehill Farm 3 Flights, Tarrant Rushton 3 Flights and
			Down Ampney 4 Flights.
	27
DOWN AMPNEY	28	1100 1500	Four Groups of 15 HORSAs carried out mass take-off and landing practices, also giving air experience to live-loads of the Royal Ulster Rifles.
			2 Lifts took off in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. The practice was most successful.
BROADWELL	29	0800 1500	25 Gliders took off for mass landing practice. Cloud obscured the L.Z. and 12 Gliders force landed without damage. 15 Gliders took off in the afternoon
			and mass landed successfully on the aerodrome.
BROADWELL	30	0900	Commenced military training.
BLAKEHILL FARM	21		Mass landing practices carried out in morning and afternoon.
			These practices (BALBOS) are to become a weekly feature of the flying on each aerodrome.