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Market Garden incident


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A friend has told me of an incident during Operation Market Garden, and he would like to know more details. He was 7 years old at the time, and he was out walking with his Grandfather one Sunday in September 1944. A glider became detached from it's tow and landed South of Reading where Junction 11 of the M4 is now (it was all fields then). He also remembered the Glider being taken away on a Queen Mary trailer. Can anyone here help with any more details, or advise where to ask? The local press are unable to help as I presume the incident was 'hushed up' to keep the Operation secret.

 

Many thanks.

 

Robert Davey

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Spoke to a friend who's brother actually saw two incidents in this area.

 

First was about 4 months before D-Day when a glider got into difficulties as it was being towed from Aldermaston. It released and came down not far from where the Hampshire hospital now stands near Basingstoke.

There were only two crew on board and it was guarded overnight and the next day, two poles were errected and a long line of tow rope zig-zagged on the ground and the tug (I assume a C-47) came low (kicking up lots of debris apparently) and hooked onto the line and dragged the glider up.

 

The second was on the night of D-Day (5th/6th) and came down loaded with troops. It landed near the Basingstoke/Reading A33 road and the troops were taken back to Aldermaston. The glider was damaged and set fire to in the field.

My mates brother and family took bits of plexiglass away and used in their garden.

 

Hope this might shed a bit more light on these glider events.

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Spoke to a friend who's brother actually saw two incidents in this area.

 

First was about 4 months before D-Day when a glider got into difficulties as it was being towed from Aldermaston. It released and came down not far from where the Hampshire hospital now stands near Basingstoke.

There were only two crew on board and it was guarded overnight and the next day, two poles were errected and a long line of tow rope zig-zagged on the ground and the tug (I assume a C-47) came low (kicking up lots of debris apparently) and hooked onto the line and dragged the glider up.

 

The second was on the night of D-Day (5th/6th) and came down loaded with troops. It landed near the Basingstoke/Reading A33 road and the troops were taken back to Aldermaston. The glider was damaged and set fire to in the field.

My mates brother and family took bits of plexiglass away and used in their garden.

 

Hope this might shed a bit more light on these glider events.

 

Thanks for this. The second incident sounds best. I will get back to my Friend and see what he says.

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Sorry for the delay, things went a bit hectic at work.

I can't any record of any RAF gliders coming down in that area during Operation Market.

So it was either a Yank glider, or the time frame has been remembered wrong.

 

 

The RAF only flew gliders operationally from late 1944, the Glider Pilot Regiment of the Army Air Corps were the pioneers British Glider flying.

 

http://www.gliderpilotregiment.org.uk

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Which one ?

Where did the Horsa come down ?

 

I was referring to your previous post, only I meant to say the first one was January but for some reason my phone corrected it to June :???

 

However, I have once again fallen into the pitfall of using poor sources! The list I originally looked at listed it as "Near Basingstoke" so I have just checked in Colin Cummings book Though Without Anger and he gives the location Downward Farm.

The only problem is I can find no record of such a farm! (perhaps the person who compiled the thought there was one near Basingstoke?) So I checked the original loss card, and that gives the location of Queenwood Farm. Which as far as i can tell was situated somewhere near East Tytherly, so nowhere near Basingstoke, so I apologise for the confusion.

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I was referring to your previous post, only I meant to say the first one was January but for some reason my phone corrected it to June :???

 

However, I have once again fallen into the pitfall of using poor sources! The list I originally looked at listed it as "Near Basingstoke" so I have just checked in Colin Cummings book Though Without Anger and he gives the location Downward Farm.

The only problem is I can find no record of such a farm! (perhaps the person who compiled the thought there was one near Basingstoke?) So I checked the original loss card, and that gives the location of Queenwood Farm. Which as far as i can tell was situated somewhere near East Tytherly, so nowhere near Basingstoke, so I apologise for the confusion.

 

Interesting all the same.

The two incidents I mentioned from a first-hand source were both American gliders.

Do you have anymore info on the Horsa incident ?

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Just to clarify a point, what model were the American gliders? I know they used British Horsas (with American markings) as well as the American made Waco gliders as I have seen photos of them in Normandy. Might be a possible confusion here?

 

Many thanks to you all for your help.

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Just to clarify a point, what model were the American gliders? I know they used British Horsas (with American markings) as well as the American made Waco gliders as I have seen photos of them in Normandy. Might be a possible confusion here?

 

Many thanks to you all for your help.

Not sure as my friends brother was only young and I don't think he is an aviation buff (although I will ask).

One thing I can tell you is that just up the road from Aldermaston is Greenham Common and they had some gliders there for a while as I used to store some machinery in a shed only a few years ago that had the back wall made from a packing crate of a American Waco glider.

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There were 5 (Five) US Troop carrier Groups operating in that area. All of them flew C47 /C53 Skytrains-Dakotas and had a complement of Glider pilots. They towed Waco CG4A Gliders (Known as HADRIAN by the British) and Airspeed Horsa gliders. The difference being that the CG4A only had a limited payload (12 Troops plus the pilot, or a Jeep or a 37mm or 57mm A/Tk gun). The Horsa was much larger and could carry a platoon of airlanding troops or Jeep and 6 Pdr A/Tk gun combination plus Pilot and co-Pilot. The Us Airfields were Aldermaston - 434th Troop Carrier Group, Greenham Common - 438th TCG, Welford - 435th TCG, Membury - 436th TCG and Ramsbury - 437th TCG. All those groups carried out an intensive training programme during the spring of 1944 including exercises with the US 101st Airborne Division which had its HQ at Greenham Lodge and its units scattered in locations from Reading all along the Kennet Valley. A major exercise and display was put on for Churchill and Eisenhower on 23 March 1944 when Paratroopers and Gliders were dropped close to RAF Welford.

British airborne units were located north of that area and 38 and 46 Groups Transport command carried out similar exercises in spring 1944. The Transport Groups flew a variety of aircraft including Stirlings adapted for Glider tow, Albemarles and C47 Dakota II and III aircraft. They mainly towed the British Horsa Glider and flew from RAF Harwell, Hampstead Norris, Down Ampney, Blakehill Farm, Fairford, Brize Norton and Broadwell. During these exercises and training flights it was a common occurrence that a glider would suffer a tow rope break or have to cast off from the tug aircraft. similarly during the operational tows of 5/6 June and later on during the lead-up to Market Garden many gliders were cast off and landed before leaving UK airspace.

The incident described could have been any one or other of these, either British or US and on operations or during training . Because of the nature of the training relatively few of these random landings are formally recorded but would normally show up in the individual squadron Operational Record Books (ORB's).

Impossible to positively identify the event without a definite date and location. They literally dropped all over the area between Reading and Oxford and Slough to Chippenham !!! Take your pick!!:-D:-D:-D

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  • 5 weeks later...

I have found a few more details about the incident. My friend remembers the Glider coming down in a field of Cattle Kale, which makes it September, and also that the skies were filled with Aircraft and Gliders. He thinks the date might be 14th Sept 1944 and the troops on the glider being Canadian or American. He also remembers the glider being dismantled and taken away on a Queen Mary trailer. The actual site is the area to the north of Junction 11 of the M4, which at the time had an Isolation Hospital there (This detail checks out from a 1940 OS Map) and near the old A33 road. Majesky Stadium is now on the site of the incident.

My thanks for all your help so far.

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