Steve's 1/72 Italeri Horsa Glider

[stona]

So, after a bit of to and fro, I’ve decided to go for this one.

My subject will be a Horsa glider PF800, glider No.1, but chalk number ‘91’, which delivered Major Howard (commander of the coup de main force) and the members of No.25 Platoon (designated as No.1 Platoon for the duration of the operation) of D Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, commanded by Lt. Brotheridge, to assault and capture the bridge at Benouville.

You can’t get more D-Day than that.

PF800 was towed by a Halifax V, LL355, code letter G, flown by Wing Commander Duder. I had thought to do some kind of vignette showing the two aircraft, but discretion, and no easy option for the Halifax, got the better part of valour.

The extraordinary feat of Howard and his men is well known, as is the tragic loss of Brotheridge. I wanted to throw some light on incredible flying of the men of the Glider Pilot Regiment, particularly Staff-Sergeants Jim Wallwork and John Ainsworth, who flew Howard, Brotheridge and their men to within about fifty metres of their objective.

Traditional picture of box and bits:



I've made a start on the cockpit. I won't be using the paratroopers, as I've an idea to pose this in flight. That means converting a couple of what I think might be US pilots to glider pilots, and doing something with the flaps, which are moulded shut on this kit. One bridge at a time

[Guest]

Ohh this is cool! I'll look forward to seeing this come along, good pick!

[Gern]

So, after a bit of to and fro, I’ve decided to go for this one.

My subject will be a Horsa glider PF800, glider No.1, but chalk number ‘91’, which delivered Major Howard (commander of the coup de main force) and the members of No.25 Platoon (designated as No.1 Platoon for the duration of the operation) of D Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, commanded by Lt. Brotheridge, to assault and capture the bridge at Benouville.

You can’t get more D-Day than that.

PF800 was towed by a Halifax V, LL355, code letter G, flown by Wing Commander Duder. I had thought to do some kind of vignette showing the two aircraft, but discretion, and no easy option for the Halifax, got the better part of valour.

The extraordinary feat of Howard and his men is well known, as is the tragic loss of Brotheridge. I wanted to throw some light on incredible flying of the men of the Glider Pilot Regiment, particularly Staff-Sergeants Jim Wallwork and John Ainsworth, who flew Howard, Brotheridge and their men to within about fifty metres of their objective.

Traditional picture of box and bits:

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One bridge at a time :smiling3:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1227837[/ATTACH]

Don't get going 'A Bridge Too Far' Steve. That's a whole different movie!

[Geoffers]

Looking forward to watching you build this Steve, intrigued to see what you’re planning :thinking:

Good luck with the build :thumb2:

Geoff.

[Waspie]

Horsa, now that's different. Be watching this un that's for sure. :thumb2:

[stona]

I'm posting today's progress, as I'm going to be covering an old mate at work for the next few days, while he's a bit poorly and therefore dragging me out of my semi-retirement the b*stard.

I've made a start on converting the Americans into Jim and John, the glider pilots, and have pretty much built the fairly minimal cockpit. I'm crap at figures, and 1/72 are a bit small for me. All I really want is to represent someone flying the glider. I'm not sure how much will be visible anyway.



So, hitting 'pause' for a few days. Back soon.

[adt70hk]

Joining the party Steve!

[Guest]

I came across this photo the other day, that reminded me of your model:

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(source)

Looking it up on the IWM site, I found a lot more interesting pictures of the Horsa.

[papa 695]

Nice start Steve.

[yak face]

Great choice steve , cant wait to see the scene come to life , cheers tony

[stona]

Some progress - it was a big glider!

[stona]

I forgot tp post that yesterday ^^^^.

More progress. I've stuck the wing together, cut out the flaps and 'boxed in' the upper wing. I had a devil of a job finding any flap details until I found some plans for a full size Horsa. It turns out that area of upper wing was a seperate panel, hung from a secondary or auxiliary spar, to which the ailerons and flaps were also attached.



I'll have to build the flaps from scratch, the cut out bits won't work, and I'd like to add some of the detail that I've discovered.

I did take the opportunity to offer the wing to the fuselage, as I've heard that this is a nasty fit.



It isn't, it's fine, and will require only minor fettling.

[Guest]

I don’t recall any obvious fit problems from when I built this kit a decade ago, so whoever said it was a poor fit probably had one with defects

[Jim R]

An interesting introduction Steve. All involved with the glider assault showed great courage. A great choice for a D-day GB. You're off to a great start.

[colin m]

An interesting build Steve.
I always thought gliders were a bit of an oddity. However, then I read a glider can get the men on the ground with good accuracy, as you point out. There's lots of stories around of Paras' landing well off target, or dispersed over a big area. That problem is greatly reduced using a glider. Also, all these 'passengers' didn't require hours of specialized training, unlike paratroopers. Then I read gliders weren't actually disposable, but could be recovered (assuming they survived the landing) everything started to make sense.