11/10/2026
No engine. No second chances. Just canvas, steel tubing, plywood, and pure courage.
Imagine crossing the English Channel in the pitch black on D-Day+1, 7 June 1944, towed by a C-47, only to be cut loose silently behind enemy lines.
That was the reality for the glider infantry troops of the 82nd Airbirne based around Leicester and Nottingham, espcially the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment based at Scraptoft.
Because the 325th GIR was so large, their deployment (split between Mission Galveston and Mission Hackensack on D-Day +1, 7 June 1944) required multiple locations.
RAF Upottery (Devon, England) - The 2nd Battalion (along with parts of the 401st GIR, which served as their 3rd Battalion) departed from here in a mix of Waco and Horsa gliders.
RAF Aldermaston (Berkshire, England) - The Regimental Headquarters and the 1st Battalion departed from this airfield.
RAF Ramsbury (Wiltshire, England) - Additional elements of the regiment and their heavy support equipment took off from here.
They crossed the English Channel and landed under heavy enemy fire at Landing Zone W, located just south of Sainte-Mère-Église near the hamlet of Les Forges.
The combined force used 152 smaller, American-built Waco CG-4A gliders and 49 larger, British-built Airspeed Horsa gliders to deliver nearly 2,300 glidermen directly into the combat zone.
At the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église, you can stand face-to-face with history in a dedicated pavilion housing an authentic, beautifully restored Waco CG-4A glider, the only life-size example of its kind on display in France.
The pavilion's unique architecture is shaped like a giant parachute shroud, and the diorama inside shows the Waco with its nose tilted open. Look inside to see exactly how these "flying coffins" were packed to the brim with a military jeep, heavy equipment, and 13 brave soldiers heading straight into the unknown.
