In recent years, there have been some aeroplane releases in 1:35 as well, typically of vehicles operating in close contact with ground forces, such as the Fieseler Storch liaison aircraft or the Horsa glider.
Although gliders needed a certain amount of ground to land the soldiers aboard arrived in larger groups (the Horsa glider carried a complete platoon ready for combat.
Born and raised in Portsmouth, he is the son of Brian Fancy, a HMNB Portsmouth dockyard worker, and is the grandson of Ralph Newson, who was a designer on the WWII Horsa Glider.
In the late evening of June 6, 1944, the 82nd Airborne’s glider troops began to arrive in France staged from Aldermaston airfield, each involving hundreds of CG-4 Waco and Airspeed Horsa gliders and managed in code-named phases denoted: Mission Keokuk, Mission Elmira, and the final two glider landings were scheduled for June 7, 1944 during the morning hours in Missions Galveston and Hackensack which brought in the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment (325th GIR).
The Horsa, Ambassador, Mosquito, Vampire, Sea Vampire, Sea Venom and Sea Vixen were all manufactured here and in addition a number of Spitfires were converted into Seafires.
Airspeed Horsa | Airspeed Oxford | Horsa Bridge | Airspeed Envoy | Airspeed Ambassador | Airspeed Ltd |
The role of the Glider Pilot Regiment is also shown through the exhibit of military gilders, including the Airspeed Horsa and Waco CG-4.