By Kim Conway
An exhibition to commemorate the 80th anniversary of wartime op, Operation Market Garden, will be held at the RAF Manston History Museum this weekend (September 14-15).
Operation Market Garden in September 1944 aimed to capture key bridges in the Netherlands to secure a path for the Allied forces to advance into Germany. The Glider Pilot Regiment played a crucial role in this operation, particularly at Manston Airfield.
The Glider Pilot Regiment was possibly the shortest lived and least known unit of the Second World War. The Regiment was formally inaugurated on 24th February 1942 as part of the Army Air Corps which then comprised the Glider Pilot Regiment, the Parachute Regiment and the Special Air Service (SAS).
Volunteers were called for from Army units and after military and RAF aircrew selection tests they were subjected to a rigorous regime of military training designed to make them “Total Soldiers”.
Their Horsa gliders were capable of carrying 28 fully armed and equipped airborne soldiers, or a Jeep and trailer or gun, and they enormously enhanced the mobility and effectiveness of the otherwise lightly armed airborne troops.
The Airborne Forces at Arnhem were ordered to hold for two or possibly three days, they held out for eight days but at great cost; the Regiments casualties at Arnhem were the highest with 90% killed, wounded or taken prisoner of war.
After Market Garden RAF Pilots were recruited to the Glider Pilot Regiment and several hundred of them took part in the greatest and most successful airborne operation of the war, Operation Varsity, the Crossing of the Rhine.
The RAF pilots acquitted themselves with great gallantry, in the air and on the ground, 60% of the Regiment’s killed in action on that day were RAF pilots seconded to the Glider Pilot Regiment.
After the Second World War, former Army glider pilots took part as light aircraft pilots in the Korean War and other emergencies. The Regiment was disbanded in 1957 and the remaining Glider Pilots joined with the Royal Artillery Air Observation Post squadrons to form today’s Army Air Corps.
The exhibition commemorates the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden and focuses on the strategic and crucial role played by RAF Manston and The Glider Pilot Regiment. It aims to honour the bravery and sacrifices of those who participated in Operation Market Garden.
Outside on the day The Glider Pilot Regiment will be represented by:
- The Glider Pilot Regiment Society (GPRS) whose objective is to preserve and promote the heritage of The Glider Pilot Regiment through education and engagement and create a network for veterans of the Glider Pilot Regiment and their families to engage with one another. www.gliderpilotregiment.org.uk
- The Men of Arnhem will be bringing their Horsa Cockpit down to exhibit. https://menofarnhem.co.uk/
- The Air Cadets will be manning a stall throughout the day running cardboard cut-out Glider workshops.
Plus there will be an exhibition inside the museum which will become a permanent display after the commemorations.
On Saturday 14th September at 7pm there is a public unveiling of Veteran RAF Glider Pilot Brian Latham’s Statue followed at 7.15pm by a public talk about Operation Market Garden and The Glider Pilot Regiment. Entry for the talk is £3 per person and can be booked via [email protected]
The NAAFI Café will be open from 5.30pm.
Sources of Information from The Assault Glider Trust/The GPRS
